The Worst Day of His Life
by Shuri 'in a world of black and white
Summary: Yzak Joule wakes up one day, only to find himself a...girl? Our silver haired Barbie doll doesn't know how Dearka is guilty for this. Oh yes, Dearka. NOT the Pink Princess, or her pink bottle and magical potion. His day with skirts, make up and...
1. The Pink Princess's Present

_This is about the stupidest idea for a fic I came up with, but then it started bugging me so much and it wouldn't leave me alone. So I decided, well, hell with it, wouldn't hurt to try. And so I present to you with pride, my first attempt at something actually funny._

_Please do not get mad about OOCness, since I really do not know where this is gonna take me. You are welcome to criticize anything else._

_This is general most of the time, but it may have hinted Dearka/Yzak. Although Yzak wouldn't be a guy for the major part of the story. Don't like, don't read._

_Disclaimer...Let me just tell you that if and _only if_ I owned GS/D, Yzak Joule would have the glorious part of main character._

* * *

It all started with a pink bottle that was delivered to him.

Dearka Elsman was perplexed when he first saw the bottle inside his mailing box. He had no idea _whatsoever_ who would ever send one to him, unless it had liquor inside.  
Or even if it did, he didn't know anyone who'd put it in a pink bottle.

Being his usual curious self, he opened it and sniffed it. To his surprise, it was _not_ alcohol.  
Then he noticed a pink envelope, which was probably delivered with the bottle. He took it, observed it for a while, and when he was entirely sure that nothing would pop out of it, he opened it.  
And what said in there just made him more confused.

oOo

_My dearest friend,_

_This bottle contains a magical potion which has a rather interesting quality. Please consider it a reward to your hard work in the military. I really hope that you will enjoy the outcome of this potion._

_I strongly suggest you try it on someone close. Not on yourself._

_Pink Princess_

oOo

Now Dearka was lost. A magical potion? Like he was supposed to believe that; it was not as if he had the mentality of a five year old.  
He almost threw the letter and bottle to the garbage can when the said _Pink Princess_ crossed his mind.

Among all the people he knew, only one person would address themselves as the Pink Princess. And that person just happened to be one of the evilest person he knew.  
Of course, evil in the most _innocent _way possible. Which was why she scared him even more.

But a potion that _she_'d make?

He thought of all the possibilities, and settled that it really could be magical.  
She seemed to have any magical abilities to do that, and even if she didn't, she was rich enough to hire a group of scientists or something, right?

He felt a grin form on his face. _It wouldn't hurt to try, does it?_

"Dearka! Would you mind to get your lazy ass of the bed since it is freakin' noon already?"  
A loud knock and sarcastic voice sounded outside his door. Then Dearka finally remembered that it was vacation, and that Dearka, Yzak and…if you go for randomness, Shiho…were all in Orb. And that they were supposed to be meeting up with their friends the next day.

Someone close? Well, well, who else could it be?  
It was decided, then. He'd mix the potion into Yzak's dinner tonight. Let's see and _enjoy_ the outcome, whatever it was.

He started humming, which triggered more complaints and shouts from his hotheaded commander, but it didn't bother him by the very least.

* * *

_Pink PrincessLacus. I always imagined her with a dark side. Lol._

_One question: What does Shiho call Dearka?_


	2. 08:00AM Rise and Shine!

The next morning came to Dearka very, very pleasantly. It was rare that he wasn't woken up by Yzak's angry shouts. 

He looked at the clock, and saw it was barely eight. _Pretty good for my lazy self…_ Dearka mused, as the pink envelope caught his eye. He had successfully mixed the potion into Yzak's dinner yesterday, which was instant noodles by the way. He wondered if the potion had taken place by now.

Dearka really didn't care, actually. He felt a little stupid, getting worked up on such a random, unbelievable thing. It was probably a bluff anyway…

Just then, there were three consecutive knocks on the door. _Yzak._ Dearka had to fight back the urge to laugh as he stood up to open the door. It would be pretty funny if Yzak came with green hair. Like that would happen, but…

All of Dearka's thoughts froze when he saw what waited for him outside the door.

"Get ready already, damnit. You know how little time we have left…"  
The usual arrogant voice, which was a pitch higher than usual, of the silver-haired commander was cut off rudely by Dearka's dry whisper.  
"……Shit."  
"What?"  
Yzak said in a biting tone, not understanding the former Buster pilot's reaction. Whatever was up with… He looked up to glare at Dearka, when he noticed something horrible.  
_Look up? But Dearka was about as tall as me…  
_"…Did you look at yourself in the mirror?"  
Yzak raised his brow. He hadn't, actually, since he just woke up. Which was unusual in itself since Yzak Joule never wakes up later than he expects. But well, that wasn't the point now. Was Dearka implying he looked so horrible or…

Then, a blush crept across Dearka's face. He looked away in an embarrassed way, and croaked out the most unexpected thing in the whole world.  
"Yzak…Would you mind buttoning up your shirt properly?"  
"What the hell is your problem? Like you have _your_ fuckin' shirt…"  
"No, I mean. Look at yourself in the mirror."  
Yzak frowned, failing to understand Dearka's reaction, and then he walked up to Dearka's mirror. What in the world…

It was Yzak's turn to freeze.

His hair seemed a bit longer than usual. His face, though it was hard to name how exactly, also seemed different and more…how he loathed the word used on himself…feminine. He sure looked a lot smaller, from his height to his build, and his shirt which was perfect fit as long as he remembered was now falling of on shoulder.

But to top it all of, he had breasts. And fairly large ones at that.

A terrified, frustrated scream echoed through the hotel they were staying in.  
The famous Yzak Joule had turned into a woman.

xoxox

"Commander Joule? Is there anything…"  
About five seconds later, Shiho, being the loyal soldier she was, ran in to see whatever enemy was torturing her commander into that deathly scream. She, unlike the other two, was perfectly groomed and dressed. She always was. No matter how lazy or uncaring her superiors were, she always looked neat and perfect.

But even her perfect cool fell when she saw what exactly was torturing her commander.

"…Co…mmander?"  
Yzak never felt so embarrassed in his life. Two people gaping at him in utter disbelief was a kind of humiliation he never went through before.  
"You _are_ Commander Joule, aren't you?"  
"What _else_ do I look like, Hahnenfuss?"  
Shiho only paused for a moment before she regained her usual 'evil side' and answered.  
"A woman, sir. Or should I call you ma'am?"

Dearka, still standing by the door, started laughing boisterously. Oh my, this was simply too amusing. He never thought he'd ever see Yzak as a woman! Shiho must've been thinking about the same lines, since her lips were curved into a taunting smile. She probably was thinking, _sweet revenge_.  
"Yzak, can you think of anything that made you…"  
Dearka tried to ask in a serious tone, though he knew very well what the answer was, but couldn't hold his laughter long enough to last the sentence. Shiho joined him in his second fit, obviously not giving a damn about her image as a soldier at the moment.  
"Shut the fuck up! Both of you!"  
Yzak's unusually high-pitched voice and red face only made it worse. The two continued laughing for something like ten minutes, before their stomach started hurting too much to laugh.

xoxox

"Well…what do we say we do now?"  
The three of them gathered in Yzak's room half an hour later, after he…or she washed his…or her face and changed. They ordered room service since Yzak stubbornly refused to go downstairs as a woman.  
"I suggest we continue with our plans for today, since it's not everyday we get to meet Athrun and them."  
Yzak shot an evil look at Dearka, obviously not wanting to see them in the current state. Dearka met his gaze for a moment, then turned red and looked away again. Yzak couldn't resist the urge to hit him hard on the head.

"What the fuck is your problem, Elsman?"  
Yzak shouted in fury. He was _not_ going to take any of the bullshit.  
"Yzak…um… Don't you have a smaller shirt?"  
Though Yzak was no longer wearing the crumpled shirt he slept in the day before, his new shirt was not much of a difference. It was still too big, and though it was buttoned properly, it was still falling of a shoulder. And the fact was, no, Yzak did not own a smaller shirt.  
"I fail to see what is wrong with this one."  
"It's falling off your shoulder."  
It was now Yzak's turn to blush. He just couldn't stand it.

"Then I cannot go to the public like this, can I? It means we have to put off our _reunion_ until I get out of this cursed form."  
Yzak snarled. Dearka then said in a playful voice.  
"It's not that bad, actually. Any real woman would kill to be in…"  
Yzak then proceeded to punch Dearka in his face, only to find Dearka caught it in ease.  
"Wow, you can't even punch hard now."  
"Shut up!"  
Yzak yanked his fist away from Dearka's hand with an even redder face.

"The thing is, _sir_, we don't even know when you'll get back."  
"Yeah, Yzak. Suppose you stay like that forever, you don't plan on staying here for your whole life, do you?"  
Yzak shot a death glare at the both of them, only to find they were both mildly amused. Then he let out a frustrated sigh. True, it wasn't as though he didn't want to see Athrun and his gang. It was just that…  
"If you insist so, Hahnenfuss, Elsman… What do you suggest I wear?"  
Trying hard and not succeeding to keep his statement sarcasm and incredulity-free, Yzak continued.  
"As you so kindly pointed out, _Elsman_, all of my clothes fall off my shoulder. And you seemed to be embarrassed by the fact, which leads to the conclusion I cannot wear this out in the public. So unless I am to go around naked…"  
Dearka coughed up his orange juice, and added playfully.  
"That could be nice, too."

As Yzak was about to punch him again, Shiho volunteered with a triumphant smile.  
"I could lend you my clothes, _sir._"  
Yzak gaped at her in disbelief. He quickly cursed himself for bringing up that topic when he saw a slight…shine in Shiho's eyes.  
"I am _not _wearing any of your girly clothes, thank you very much."  
Shiho deepened her smile, and Yzak knew he made a mistake.  
"My clothes are _not_ girly, commander. Plus, I was not talking about my personal clothes. You would hardly say that the ZAFT uniform is too girly for you to wear?"

Moments later, Yzak was faced with the all too familiar red ZAFT uniform. The reason why his eyebrows were twitching was, though, was because it wasn't _as_ familiar as he thought it would be.

He was facing the _women's_ ZAFT redcoat, which, if you recall, consist of a pink miniskirt instead of red pants.

"Hey, Shiho, I didn't know you had one of these. Why don't you ever wear them? You'd look good in a miniskirt."  
Shiho shot an evil look at Dearka, who raised his hands in defeat.  
"I wore this when I was younger. It doesn't fit me anymore, plus, I would rather die than wearing one around you."  
"And you're making _me_ wear this?"  
Yzak protested weakly, trying hard to get out of his current situation. Shiho just formed another triumphant smile.  
"If you have noticed, commander, you are much smaller than I am right now. I figured my usual uniform would not fit you, as it might…"  
She glanced at Dearka.  
"Fall of the shoulder, so you should be wearing this."  
"But naturals wouldn't want ZAFT…"  
"You might find it interesting that they consider it a type of…cosplay."

After another half an hour of arguing, wrestling and threatening, Yzak accepted to wear the miniskirt only after Dearka threatened to strip Yzak himself if he didn't.

Shiho broadened here smile, which would have looked beautiful if one didn't know her well enough, and coughed, which sounded strangely like _revenge_. Indeed, revenge it was. Sweet, sweet revenge for all the hysteria she had to bear from him.

Fifteen minutes later, the famed Yzak Joule came out of the bathroom with the redcoat. It fit him perfectly, much to his annoyance, and someone who didn't know him never could have guessed he was a man. He kept pulling at the skirt which exposed much more flesh than he'd been used to, but it only made it look cuter.

Shiho was satisfied with the outcome, Dearka noted from the corner of his eye. No mistaking that shine in her eyes.  
It _wasn't _bad, actually. It was a lot prettier than most real women anyway, though he dared not say it to Yzak's face.

Yzak did, if only for now, have thin, pretty legs.

* * *

_Lol. Yzak in a miniskirt. And if you're gonna ask why Shiho brought her old uniform to her vacation, she was planning to sell it off to an old friend. Not that you're supposed to do that, but oh well, like they'd find out. evil laugh_

_And by the way, Yzak at the moment is... Let's say 5'2. About as tall as I am, and believe me when I say that's short. Shiho's even taller than him..._

_Please don't think I'm wierd for writing this, but I'm somehow in a destructive mood at the moment. evil laugh again_


	3. 10:00AM Meet With Friends

_Why?_ Yzak Joule thought to himself as he stared out of the window of a taxi, heading towards the Athha estate, wearing the _feminine_ ZAFT redcoat, which came complete with a sewn-on bra and pink…_pink_ miniskirt.

Dearka sat beside him, and Shiho in front in the passenger's seat, and he swore he could see a trace of a grin on their faces.

_Shit, what the fuck did I ever do to become a damn woman?_ His thoughts were nearing desperation, which was not something that happened everyday. Yes, he was panicking. Yzak, who at least thought straight no matter how emotional he seemed, was completely lost in the current situation.

As far as he knew, nothing he did yesterday was out of the blue. Yesterday was _normal._ _Perfectly normal_ to the point of _boring.  
_Of course, he doesn't know that he is very, very wrong. He remains oblivious about the evil scheme of Dearka.

Which is why Dearka had to keep trying not to grin like an idiot, since he didn't want Yzak to get hysteric inside the small confined space of a taxi. It is dangerous when someone starts tackling…well, if he was a girl now, would he go for cat fighting?...you inside a car. He learnt it the hard way.

"We're here."  
The taxi driver pulled up in front of a huge gate after which seemed like an eternity. They got out without a word, and Dearka paid for the fare. Then they started walking to the entrance of the mansion in peace, when…

"Hey!"  
Yzak shouted all of a sudden. Shiho blatantly ignored him, while Dearka at least had the grace to look at him. Yzak pointed a shaking finger at Shiho, and said in fury.  
"Why is Shiho dressed like that, while I have to wear this freakin' miniskirt? It's not fair!"  
Shiho, who had ignored his first word, now let out an exasperated laugh. Well, so what was Shiho wearing?

A white button-down shirt with black slacks. Very simple yet somewhat formal; exactly what she'd been expected to wear.

Dearka just raised an amused eyebrow. He shifted his gaze to Shiho, gestures suggesting that it was _her _idea so he was innocent. Shiho wiped away tears from laughter, and answered in a sentence as simple as her clothes.  
"I thought my clothes were girly."  
Yzak glared what _would have been _a death glare, which only looked cute with his new feminine features. Shiho couldn't help but smile, while Dearka felt himself turn pink.  
"Hahnenfuss! Elsman! I swear when I get back…"  
"Which may never happen."  
Yzak growled, and followed the two without another argument. He certainly felt very, very, very uncomfortable with the skirt. He did not understand why women bothered with those things.

He swore that he'd never tease Shiho for refusing to wear it again.

They walked up to the door to knock, but the heavy doors were opened before they did. And out came Athrun, Cagalli, Kira and Lacus, who all seemed overly excited at the event.

Yes, Lacus the _Pink Princess_. Dearka could have sworn there was a slightly different shine in her eyes.

"Hey guys!"  
"Long time no see, Dearka."  
"Yeah. So what's up Athrun?"  
"My name's Cagalli. What's yours?"  
"Shiho. Shiho Hahnenfuss."  
"Well, let's have a good time together, shall we?"

A confused reunion with greetings, hugs and introduction (take note that it was the first time they saw Shiho in person) for about five minutes, when Athrun finally noticed a certain silver-haired commander missing.  
"Oh, hey, where's Yzak?"  
"Yzak? The Duel pilot? Oh yeah, you said you'll bring him."  
Dearka and Shiho exchanged glances, broke into laughter again, and looked behind them. The fact was, Yzak _always was _there… He was just too short and was blocked by Dearka and Shiho. They grabbed his wrist, and pushed him up front before he had any time to protest. And what followed was three dropped jaws and one mildly amused face.

"Yzak…uh…"  
"The Duel pilot is a girl?"  
"She's so _pretty_!"  
"My, my…"  
Athrun, Kira, Cagalli and Lacus in order, repectively.

Yzak blushed with embarrassment. Oh he could just curse his rotten luck…  
"Dearka… Did…did Yzak have a younger sister or something?"  
Upon hearing Athrun's remark, something inside him _snapped_. Oh well, he was still the same Yzak inside afterall.  
"I _am_ Yzak, you fuckin' bastard!"  
"But…no, no. This must be a dream. A _nightmare_. This can't be happening…"  
Athrun covered his eyes and started shaking his head. By this time, Shiho was crouched on the ground and Dearka was leaning on the doorframe, _laughing_. Kira and Cagalli just seemed lost, and Lacus had her mild smile on.

She would not have been surprised of course. She was the all-mighty _Pink Princess_ who cooked up the whole plan. Not that she was stupid enough to make it obvious.

Dearka swore, again, this time that Lacus sent him a look saying _Don't spoil the fun, okay? Our little secret_. Oh, it was the prettiest, most _innocent_ look on anyone he'd ever seen. Even the words hid in it was cute. He tried hard to convince himself he was only imagining the somewhat…black aura he felt from her direction.

xoxox

After a few minutes of explaining and shouting, two attempted punches which never got through, and a tummy-ache, they finally got to the huge living room of the Athha Estate.

"So…um…basically…Yzak Joule"  
Cagalli, who was still confused, looked at a growling Yzak.  
"…is a guy?"  
"How many times do you want me to explain, natural?"  
"Wearing a miniskirt?"  
"Shut the fuck up! Blame it on these fuckin' annoying subordinates…"  
"Well, it is Yzak alright."  
Athrun bursted out in a _good-natured_ laugh (mind you, good-natured means different from Dearka _and/or_ Shiho), which was answered by the (if you would let me say) cute glare from Yzak.

"I swear I will kill you one day, Zala…"  
Yzak's threat went mostly unnoticed, mostly because Lacus stood up to say something.

"Oh, I have the most wonderful idea!"  
The way her voice carried and the way she clapped her hands, she was the perfect peaceful, _innocent_ songstress of ZAFT. Dearka thought otherwise, and seeing and incomprehensible expression of fear in Athrun's face, decided that he was not alone.  
"…What!"  
"Stop being so _snappy_, would you?"  
"Shut up, natural!"  
"Stop saying natural! It's not nice!"  
Ignoring Yzak and Cagalli, who managed to start snapping insults at another, Lacus continued her _speech_.  
"We are going to the movies later, aren't we? Can Cagalli, Shiho and I dress Commander Joule up? The ZAFT uniform stands out too much in a normal crowd."

* * *

_Oh, evil, evil Lacus! Hahaha..._


	4. 10:15AM Dress up to go out

Athrun and Dearka coughed up their coffee (which somehow appeared magically in front of them, thanks to the attentive servants of the Athhas) and looked at Yzak. He obviously did not hear a word Lacus said, which was probably better for him.  
"Um…Lacus…"  
Athrun started to argue, for the sake of his former-teammate's dignity, but was quickly silenced by Lacus's innocent-black looks. Dearka, of course, was in no position to speak. Which left Kira, but as Kira was in the so-called 'Lacus Dreamland' at the moment, he quickly agreed to the idea.

"Well then, Miss Shiho…"  
"Just call me Shiho."  
"Then Shiho, shall we bring Mr. Joule to the _dressing room_?"  
Shiho smiled in response. Lacus returned a smile, and though they were both very different, they shared the somewhat-black-aura behind their backs.  
"Miss Cagalli, Commander, would you stop fighting for a while?"  
They both looked up, without a clue of the so-called plan. Shiho, being the strongest and tallest woman of the three, grabbed Yzak's wrist to drag him off, while Lacus explained the plan shortly to Cagalli.

"No! I refuse to dress up as a girl!"  
Yzak shouted, while Cagalli poked at his side with an evil smile.  
"Like you aren't now?"  
"Shut it, you natural! Just because you are the representative of Orb…"  
"God. Give it up, commander. There's no point."  
"HAHNENFUSS! I order you to let me go _right now_! Orders from a superior, god damnit!"  
"I'm off duty. Oh wait, so I won't be breaking any rules if I call you Joule?"  
"Oh please, Mr. Joule? You look so pretty today. It would be a waste not to."  
"I DON'T WANT TO BE PRETTY!"  
Yzak shouted in exasperation, but he knew well that it was no use. He couldn't fight this situation… Hell, he couldn't even break out of Shiho's grasp. He was too weak to fight against _her_, let alone Dearka.

"Oh damn, man. Yzak will kill me when he gets back."  
Dearka muttered when they disappeared up the stairs. Athrun looked at him, then to the stairs where they disappeared. Kira was drinking his coffee (with half a cup of milk and five spoons of sugar) innocently.  
"Will he even?"  
"…Hope he doesn't. I mean, he can't punch hard like that, and he looks pretty."  
Athrun raised his eyebrow apprehensively, while Kira joined the conversation.  
"Oh, you know, I didn't expect the buster pilot to be so small. I thought she…sorry, he'd be a scary guy."  
"Uh…well…he _is_ scary when you get to know him."  
"Really? Doesn't seem like."  
"Kira. You don't know because you haven't gone through his insanity and hysteria the whole of military service."

Kira shrugged as he put another spoonful of sugar in his coffee.  
"Um…isn't it a bit too much? Sugar, I mean?"  
Dearka asked tentatively, but was answered by a innocent smile.  
"I like sweet stuff. It's good, you know? Here, try."  
Dearka couldn't refuse the oh-so-pure-and-innocent boy in front of him, and took a sip off the coffee, or better, sugar drink. Athrun eyed Dearka with pity, since he too had to put up with that challenge when he was younger.

It wasn't horrible, actually. If you ignored the fact it was _supposed_ to be something like coffee, it was very sweet and well…_sweet_.

"Don't you like it?"  
The two could almost see a wagging tail behind him, as Kira looked at Dearla with expecting eyes.  
"Uh…it's sweet."  
"Yup! I love it!"  
"Can I ask a question?"  
"Hm? Sure!"  
"Why'd you even bother with coffee? Can't you just get sugar water or something instead?"  
"…Oh, yeah, that's a good idea. I should say that the next time."  
Kira thanked Dearka earnestly, and Dearka wondered how Kira remained thin andpimple-free after all this sugar intake.

xoxox

Meanwhile, at the dressing-room aka torture chamber…

"How about this shirt? It should suit him…"  
"No. Too slutty…"  
"Well who cares? Serves him right."  
"Shiho, stop being so harsh on him. What about this sundress?"  
"Too bad his eyes are blue. Orange will look weird."

Yzak sighed as he listened to the girls' debates. He was being tied on a chair since Shiho was too annoyed to keep him from running away. He _could not_ believe that this was happening to him. Three girls…one of them a _natural_…turning him into a Barbie doll? Shit. This was BULLSHIT.

"I am NOT wearing a skirt. Period."  
He shouted at them when he heard the word 'skirt'. At that, Shiho threw his first pair of clothes to him. Of course, he couldn't catch it since _someone deliberately tied his arms to the chair too,_ but Shiho seemed to have forgotten that specific detail.  
"Change. Now."  
"I am fuckin' tied to this goddamn chair, Hahnenfuss!"  
"Oh yeah, I forgot."  
She sneered as she untied him, and pushed him into the changing stall.  
"Come out if thirty seconds or I will strip you myself."  
"ALRIGHT, HAHNENFUSS! I GET YOUR IDEA!"

Lacus and Cagalli giggled in the background, while Shiho walked to them with her now-famous triumphant expression.

Yzak bursted out of the stall in a mere fifteen seconds, since Shiho's threat scared him down to his bones. He, _Yzak Joule_, commander of Voltaire, was _not_ going to get stripped by a woman in public. He knew well that she could at the moment.

The first set consisted of plain jeans (thank heaven) and a sleeveless top. The top had a v-line which cut in pretty deep, but you were supposed to wear a spaghetti strap under so nothing would show. The navy blue color went well with his hair and eyes, and it would have been perfect, if…

"Those jeans seem to be a bit too loose, Mr. Joule."  
Lacus pointed out with her sweet voice. Shiho merely nodded, happy that her commander wasn't getting off so easily, and Cagalli burst into a fit.  
"WHAT THE HELL! Those jeans are even a bit tight on me! How freakin' thin _are_ you?"  
"Cagalli…"  
"It is _unfair_. No, you are so NOT wearing that. You are insulting me!"  
Yzak faced her with a shocked expression. He was getting deprived of a chance to wear normal jeans just for _her_ selfish reason? Oh no.  
"Is it _my_ problem if you are fat? I don't care about this…shirt, but I _am _wearing these jeans! It's about the most sensible thing you have in your goddamn closet! I'd rather die than wear a freakin' skirt, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"

"Well, _commander_."  
Shiho snickered.  
"Unlike the shirt you were wearing earlier today, which fell of your shoulder, those jeans are falling off your hips. Of course, I am sure Major Elsman would be more than happy to see that, but…"  
That was enough to make Yzak dash right back in to the stall.

It was then something caught Lacus's eyes, and made them more sparkly than usual.

"Cagalli, Shiho, what do you think about this?"  
"That is…"  
"…perfect."  
The three girls broadened their smile, and threw the 'perfect clothes' they found into the stall.

"Change and get out in thirty seconds."  
Shiho repeated, only to be followed by a horrified, strangled shout.  
"NO!"  
"Yes."  
Lacus and Cagalli giggled again.  
"I am NOT wearing this, HAHNENFUSS! This is… It's so fuckin' girly! And puffy!"  
"I will strip you myself…"  
"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT! You can FUCKIN' say that all you want, but I DON'T GIVE! You are all girls anyway, so…"  
"In front of Major Elsman, Athrun Zala and Kira Yamato."  
"HAHNENFUSS! I AM NOT WEARING THIS!"  
"I am giving you a choice. Wear that here, by yourself, or make me put that on you in front of the three…"  
She scowled.  
"Gentlemen downstairs."

"…Did you know I hate you, Hahnenfuss?"  
"Yes sir, I know. Fifteen, fourteen…"  
"FUCK YOU!"

* * *

_It isn't polite to swear, Yzak... Lol. I was kinda having a hard time getting into his swearing, but... as I put in the beginning, this fic was bound to be OOC anyway. HAHA._


	5. 10:45AM Leave for movies

Yzak thought his nightmare would end after he was forced to wear the demented clothes.

He was _wrong_. Oh no sir, don't think the girls only care about clothes.  
Next came hair, and then came make-up.

Well, at least the girls didn't keep him for two hours, like what could have happened if they were Fllay or Meer. It took them about half an hour, but hey, that was long enough for an impatient person like Yzak.

"Oh my god, you look so pretty!"  
Cagalli squealed in delight after the whole _procedure_ was through. Lacus nodded in agreement, admiring her handiwork. Oh, who _could_ have though it was _her_ idea the whole time? Shiho just kept her evil smile.  
"I DO NOT WANT TO BE PRETTY, GOD DAMNIT!"  
"It's time we go downstairs then, isn't it?"  
"Yeah. Athrun should be waiting…"  
"Athrun, Athrun, Athrun… Cagalli, did you know that you never speak three sentences without saying his name?"  
"SHUT UP!"  
Shiho laughed, and proceeded with dragging Yzak downstairs.

"Hey guys!"  
Cagalli shouted out cheerfully. The three …uh… gentlemen looked back, relief and curiosity evident in all their faces. Even Kira, who had drank three cups of sugar-water after that, was a bit bored of waiting. They had only heard the loudest of Yzak's swearing, and so they were curious of the outcome.  
"So where's the princess?"  
Dearka said jokingly, only to be answered by a loud…girl's voice. Let's just stop pretending it was even low, since it was a pitch higher than Cagalli's.  
"I AM NOT A FUCKIN' PRINCESS, ELSMAN!"  
The three looked at the source of voice with sheer amazement. Shown in different ways, of course.

Dearka gaped, stared at his commander, and turned bright red.  
Athrun widened his eyes, and turned a slight shade of pink. (He could not _blush_ in front of his girlfriend.)  
Kira dropped his fourth glass of sugar-water, and kept blinking.

They all had the same thought, though, which was _WOW SHOOT._

Yzak Joule, the snappy, annoying, high-blood ZAFT soldier, looked CUTE.

Now is the right time for me to explain how exactly he looked. And though it is hard to put in words, well, just keep in mind he looked angelic, by the least.

He was wearing a dress. An ivory, sleeveless, V neck chiffon dress. The kind that floated at each movement the person made. It wasn't revealing or as girly as Yzak thought it to be, but it was just so _cute_. He looked so little like the ZAFT commander he was, and instead looked like a conservative teenage girl who would blush at every single thing. He wore white ballet slippers, which also added to the overall cuteness of his attire.

His hair, which everyone failed to notice how silky and soft it was until now, was tied at the back, in that half-ponytail hairstyle no one knows how to call. The girls hadn't put much make up on him, but they noticed how his lashes seemed to be longer, and how a slight pinkish shade on his cheeks brought color to his pale face. Do not forget those thin lips with a slight shine, which were utterly kissable…!

Yzak turned red at the way Dearka, Athrun and Kira looked at him. So much for his _dignity_. So much for his _basic human rights_, _damnit_! He was not a freakin' carnival. He was not on show.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!"  
His screech brought the three back.  
"You look beautiful."  
Dearka said in his playful tone, and Yzak growled in response. _Once this nightmare is over_…  
"She's so _pretty_!"  
Kira said the exact same sentence his twin said earlier. Yzak's nerve snapped once again.  
"_HE._ Not she, _he_. And I am not _PRETTY_, god damnit!"

xoxox

Only moments later, they were chatting happily through the streets of Orb. They were all important people, and it was rare that they got to enjoy their lives like normal teenage people.

The _they_ excluding Yzak.

Yzak followed about two steps behind the whole crowd, swearing under his breath at everything. This was _just his day_. Oh yes, the _best_ day of his life.  
NOT.

First, he didn't like walking in the streets at all. For one, being the _aristocrat_ (otherwise expressed as a 'rich, spoiled bastard' in the English language) he was, he never, _never_ walked to a destination. He had a driver to bring him wherever he wanted, and in the more recent years, he had his own car and drove himself.

Next, everyone kept looking at the crowd. He did not feel comfortable at the notion of being watched, and blamed the rest of the gang for it.

The chief representative of the country, her bodyguard/boyfriend who had an exceptional appearance (as much as Yzak hated admitting that), the representative's twin brother and fiancé of the probably the most famous person in PLANT, the famous person herself, who was indeed the present Chairman of PLANT and a popular singer, a friggin' loud bastard who was obviously a coordinator, and a very tall girl who was chatting with the chief representative and chairman was bound to draw attention after all, right?

Not exactly. Because, while _they_ also drew attention, it was Yzak who drew the most gazes. The citizens of Orb had already seen the first four people in the media countless times. The latter two, though certainly eye-catching, weren't _that_ unusual.

The people stared at the unknown beauty that was with them, and wondered who _she_ was. All the guys either blushed or stared or both, and the girls started whispering madly to their friends, admiring and envying the _beauty_. _She_ was one of the prettiest people many had seen, and a few swore they've seen her before. Of course, none could recall where.

How could they, when what was in the people's mind but couldn't really recall was a live broadcast of the PLANT council, where the _sarcastic, hotheaded, evil, cold man_, Yzak Joule, had a seat beside Lacus?

"Yzak!"  
Dearka shouted, pulling Yzak back from his thoughts.  
"What?"  
"Come here, man. Why are you walking so far behind?"  
Dearka pulled Yzak into the group by his wrist before Yzak could pull away. The silver-haired _girl_ lost _her_ balance at the sudden happening and ended up falling on Dearka.

In other words, Yzak ended up in Dearka's arms.

Can you possibly imagine how goddamn _natural_ that seemed? Let's assess it the way strangers saw it.

First, six teenagers were walking in the streets, probably enjoying their holiday. They saw Kira and Lacus, Athrun and Cagalli holding hands, and thought they were together. Nothing new, it has been on the press ever since.

They didn't know who Shiho and Dearka were. Since _they_ weren't holding hands, people thought they were just good friends. Maybe a little more than that, but they weren't together yet.

_Then_ they noticed Yzak. And they figured out he…or she, from their point of view, was part of the crowd too. But _she_ kept a three-step distance from the six. _Why?_

_And then_ Dearka called to Yzak and pulled _her_ in the crowd. Oh, yeah, sure. How could we miss it?

The silver-haired girl liked the blonde. And she kept her distance because she was too embarrassed to stay close to him. Or maybe she was jealous of the other brunette? Either way, she was in love with the blonde. Evident too by the way she blushed when he ended up hugging her.

Of course, no one knows that Yzak is a man…a military man at that, and Dearka is his subordinate. No one knows that Yzak lagged behind because blamed attention on the six. No one knows that the reason Yzak blushed was because he felt more attention, and he was _embarrassed_. As a human being.

Lacus let out a giggle. She saw everything, and noticed everything. She loved this day, and she loved her faithful followers who provided her with the magical potion.

"Hey, there's the movie house! Hurry up, guys!"  
Cagalli shouted, pointing at a large building ahead. She started running, Athrun following closely. Kira smiled, and started running too with Lacus. Shiho too followed, and Yzak was left with Dearka.

"Damn it all. I don't want to watch a fuckin' movie, and why they hell am I wasting my time and money in it?"  
Dearka laughed gently at Yzak's comment.  
"Come on Yzak. It's your holiday. That's what people do!"  
"Do not consider me the same as these _naturals_. This whole idea is stupid. And why _today_, of all days?"  
"Shut up, will ya? We've gotta catch up."  
Dearka grabbed Yzak's hand, and started running after the others. Yzak thanked the girls inwardly for _at least_ not making him wear high-heels.

Forgive me if I say they looked like the cutest couple that ever existed in the universe.

* * *

_Well, much thanks to the following people for reviews: dark.retreat, ahm771, HeartlessHitorikiri, Blizzaris, seedsofwar, and reckless-rage. I'm really happy you decided to give this fic your time. Thanks again!_

_Next chapter coming soon..._


	6. 11:15AM At the moviehouse

"FUCK! NO!"  
"Give it up, _Joule_."  
"Don't you dare _Joule_ me! You are my friggin' subordinate!"  
"Off duty. _In your face_."  
"ARGH! I hate you, Hahnenfuss! And all you…"  
"Thank you, _Joule_. I take that as a complement."

"GOD DAMNIT! I AM _NOT_, did you hear? I AM _NOT_ KISSING DEARKA ELSMAN!"

Yes, I see you are lost. Now let's rewind to about five minutes before to find out what led to this crazy conversation.

xoxox

As the six approached the ticket counter of the movie, they heard the saleslady shouting out six words that formed a very interesting sentence.  
"We are having a special promotion!"

Now, people are _always_, without exception, attracted to this kind of thing. Promotions mean cheaper rates. Why pay full when you don't have to? That's just stupid.

Well, that is what _we_ think. Even Yzak, who had three times as much money than ever would be needed (remember the phrase, a 'rich, spoiled bastard?'), was interested. Cheaper? Maybe movies weren't that bad after all.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

"A promotion? Really?"  
Cagalli was the first to reach her, therefore it was her who asked for further details. The lady smiled, looked at the crowd, frowned a little, and then nodded.  
"Yes. It is a special promotion for couples. We give 50 percent off for tickets and drinks if a couple watches the same movie together."  
"So we only have to pay for one person, and two can go in?"  
"Basically, yes."

The crowd, except for Yzak who was skeptical, almost jumped up in joy.  
And they certainly _would _have, only if the lady's next sentence didn't come along.

"But, before that, you must prove to be together by kissing."  
Cagalli blushed, Lacus tilted her head, and Shiho smiled evilly.  
Athrun glanced at Cagalli, Kira turned a _little_ red, and Dearka froze in his tracks.

Yzak watched with amusement. Oh well, so much for the promotion. Since there _had_ to be an odd-one-out, he decided he would be. He had enough money anyways, and no way he was kissing a guy.

_Of course _he is wrong. That is just how this day has to go.

It went smoothly for the two official couples. Athrun pecked Cagalli on her lip, causing both of them to blush furiously; and Kira and Lacus embraced and engaged themselves in a full make-out session (Dearka noticed with surprise how those two made it look so pure and innocent, when it would have looked _very dirty_ with anyone else).

The problem was, though, Dearka, Yzak and Shiho.

No one was ever together among these three. So they all decided to pay full rates.  
Actually, Dearka would've kissed either of them for the sake of a half-rate, but Yzak and Shiho both showed open disgust to even the idea of kissing Dearka.

Just as the three were about to give the lady full payment for themselves, Yzak became so pale one could almost see through him.

_Where had I leave my wallet?  
_Panic struck him when he remembered there weren't any pockets on the dress. _Oh damn_. He was so pissed off at the idea of a dress that he didn't even remember about his wallet. And to think he had enough money for about a hundred of these tickets!

"…What is wrong, Ms. Joule?"  
Lacus, who seemed to be done kissing, asked Yzak sweetly. The gang had agreed before they left to talk of Yzak as a girl, so other people wouldn't get confused.  
"Oh…uh… I left my wallet."  
"You _what_?"  
Shiho asked with her ever-evil grin, and Yzak tried to hide his anxiousness.

"So…um… I think I'll just wait for you outside."  
"What? No, we all have to go together!"  
Kira pouted. Leave it to the invincible Lacus-Kira alliance to bring bad things to Yzak.  
"Kira is right, Yzak. What is the point of hanging out when you're not there?"  
"Yeah, Yzak, come on!"

"Oh, but…"  
Lacus let out a (fake) cry of _dismay_. You may read that sentence with or without the word in parenthesis.  
"It seems I left my wallet too."  
"Oh, wait. I should…"  
I guess it is taken for granted Kira paid for Lacus. Well, Kira reached out to his pocket, when Lacus silently stopped him and shook her head. _Slightly_, of course, so no one would see. Kira was confused, but he let Lacus have her way.

Cagalli found her wallet was filled with some foreign currency, since she hadn't been to the money changer after a trip to some country, and Athrun didn't dare to move after a black glare from the Pink Fairy Princess.

"I am not giving up _my_ money for the sake of this bastard."  
Shiho snickered when the rest looked at her. She was a very smart girl, and got the gist of what was going on without anything unfortunate happening to herself. She learned in this short period of time that Lacus Clyne was not to be messed with.

The gazes shifted to Dearka. He didn't need reinforcement from Lacus _this time_, since he really couldn't help it.  
"Well, the truth is… I'm broke right now. This…"  
He waved a bill lovingly.  
"Is all I've got, and it's going to my ticket."

"Right? So I'll just wait…"  
Yzak said, uneasiness settling in his stomach. He was _not_ kissing Dearka for all he cared. He was _not. He was NOT.  
_"Oh, I have the perfect idea!"  
Lacus clapped her hands, and said the dreaded sentence.  
"Why won't you kiss Dearka, so you can get a ticket for free?"  
Athrun sent his former comrades a sympathetic look, while Dearka just closed his eyes. Kira just seemed confused.

And that is how we ended up with that conversation.

xoxox

"FUCK! NO!"  
"Give it up, _Joule_."  
"Don't you dare _Joule_ me! You are my friggin' subordinate!"  
"Off duty. _In your face_."  
"ARGH! I hate you, Hahnenfuss! And all you…"  
"Thank you, _Joule_. I take that as a complement."

"GOD DAMNIT! I AM _NOT_, did you hear? I AM _NOT_ KISSING DEARKA ELSMAN!"

"Please, Ms. Joule? We really would like to watch the movie together."  
"Y…Yeah, Yzak! Come on, you're a girl now anyways…"  
"You've seen me kissing Athrun. It's not big deal."  
"I really want to get to know you. Please?"  
"See Joule? They are so eager to watch the movie with you. Why don't you do them a favor?"  
Shiho wrapped up Lacus, Athrun, Cagalli and Kira's _suggestions_ in one sentence, and turned to Yzak and Dearka with her now trademark evil smile.

When the blonde _and _the platinum blonde refused to answer or move, Lacus frowned slightly. Kira _thought_ he heard a click of the tongue, but decided to brush it off as a product of his imagination.

Dearka was about to protest when he caught something black in the corner of his eye. He closed his eyes trying to block it, but he already knew his decline to the offer would mean his doom.

With a clenched fist and firm determination, he slowly opened his eyes. Sure enough, the black thing was Lacus's aura. Basic human rights? Dignity? Pride to be a straight man?

Screw that. His _life_ was more important.

He grabbed Yzak's shoulder in a flurry, and quickly pressed his lips to his dazed commander's. Yzak's reflexes forced him to close his eyes, and it would have looked as if the blonde finally got a kiss from his stubborn girlfriend.

And for a split moment, it seemed _right_…somehow. They both forgot that it was a _man_ they were kissing, and they wanted more. Everything disappeared except for them, and they were the only existences in the universe. It was warm…so warm…and they felt safe. A wave of some unknown emotion came and went…

"SHIT!"  
Yzak was the first to come back to his senses. And though it felt like an eternity to the both of them, hardly two seconds had passed…luckily. Yzak pushed Dearka away, cursing loudly. He glared at Dearka first, then at the rest for not stopping him. Then he rubbed his lips furiously, groaning when he found lip gloss smeared on the back of his hand. _Did Dearka just kiss me? Worse, did I just kiss him back? Oh shit, shit…_

"Oh shoot."  
Dearka was still a little dazed by his action. He couldn't believe he just kissed… Yzak Joule? Hell, that just doesn't happen. Hell no. Well…except for that first night in the armywhen they all got dangerously drunk, when Miguel and Rusty started strip dancing, Athrun ended up making out with Nicol and Dearka woke up finding Yzak in his bed, both of them completely naked… _But that was an accident. We were all drunk, and…come on. We confirmed later nothing happened._

_But why did it feel so right?_

_No way, this just doesn't happen. I am straight. I am straight…_

The saleslady only saw the kissing part, as Lacus was _conveniently_ blocked her view after that. They successfully obtained seven movie tickets, seven drinks, and three bags of popcorn. While the guys were stunned by this…incident, the girls had decided on watching a full length romance film.

Cagalli actually wanted to watch an action movie, but Lacus talked her out of it. Before even Cagalli herself knew it, they were occupying the front seat inside the theater, chatting softly as they were waiting for the movie to start.

For some other reason or another (Dearka hypothesized correctly that the reason was unconscious human manipulation by the Pink Princess), Yzak and Dearka ended up sitting beside each other. If it had been any other time, that would have been the most comfortable seat …they were both closest to each other… But this was just bad timing. They both edged to opposite sides, leaving as much space as possible in between them.

It didn't help that a young, if I must say conceited, stranger sat beside Yzak, and tried talking Yzak into going out with him (The stranger didn't know the platinum blonde was part of the gang, because of his distance from Dearka). Amid all the sweet-talking, flirting, and attempts with physical contact, Yzak _snapped_ and tried punching the stranger. Not that he could, of course, and the stranger caught his wrist and pulled him closer.

Dearka was the only one to notice (again thanks to Lacus and her manipulation tactics), and he had to pull the stranger away from Yzak, snarling for him to _get off his girl_.

It didn't help that the movie was so boring, and at one point, Yzak fell asleep and ended up leaning against Dearka's shoulder.

And it didn't help at all that Yzak looked so cute and adorable when Dearka had to wake him up after the movie ended.

By the time they got out of the demented theater (only Cagalli and Kira seemed to have _watched_ the movie), Yzak and Dearka both felt too weird to talk to each other.

* * *

_So how's that? Dearka/Yzak is my current fave pairing. If you want to know.  
By the way, I forgot to put this in my last chapter, but I'd like to thank my classmate for helping me decide what to make Yzak wear (like he'd ever read this fic, but oh well).  
See, I had to choose between that dress or another miniskirt with spaghetti strap, and I asked him which was more embarrassing. He told me (he said he'd rather die, but after much persuading and...blackmailing)the dress, so that is what Yzak is wearing. Yes, I _am_ evil._

_One question: Is this still yaoi, even if Yzak is fullly and completely a girl here? _


	7. 01:30PM Lunch

"That was such a nice movie! I was so touched!"  
"I agree with you, Cagalli. It was beautiful."  
"Yeah. If only real-life people were as romantic…"  
All Cagalli would talk about on the way to get lunch was about the movie. Lacus and Shiho also praised the complex plot and real characters (so-called), although they hardly even glanced at the screen. It amazed Athrun and Dearka how they seemed to know so much about it, though.

Athrun yawned, still a little drowsy from the boring movie. He sincerely hoped Cagalli wouldn't notice, since he didn't like making her angry.

Lacus and Shiho were the only ones who noticed how unusually quiet Dearka and Yzak were. And how the two best friends kept the farthest distance…Dearka in front with Athrun, and Yzak at the end, about five steps behind Kira.

"Hey, that restaurant looks good! What do you think?"  
Cagalli pointed at a restaurant at the next corner. Athrun groaned softly, since it was a Korean restaurant. You know just how unbearably spicy Korean cuisine could be. And Athrun wasn't exactly a fan of spicy food. Dearka groaned a little louder, since he didn't have a girlfriend who might get upset, and the rates seemed a little more than he'd like to spend. Shiho was completely okay with it, she _loved_ everything and anything spicy, but waited for Lacus's decision. Lacus Clyne made the decisions, not anyone else.

Lacus approved of Cagalli's suggestion, and the seven of them went inside the restaurant. They took the round table at the corner, and sat.  
"I am starving!"  
"You ate one whole pack of popcorn, Cagalli."  
Athrun said in an exasperated way to his girlfriend. In an exasperated, _loving _way that made other observers a little uncomfortable. Kira and Lacus had their heads buried in the menu, and Shiho was looking at her own.

Dearka held a menu which had magically appeared in front of him, and let out a strangled sigh when he realized people…not mentioning names…wanted him to share it with Yzak. At other times, under normal circumstances, he would have done that without being told. It was different now.

"Here. Choose."

Dearka pushed the menu to Yzak, but was answered with a cold glare. _Shit_. Dearka had to fight the urge to massage his temples. Yzak was _mad_. Oh, Dearka was used to Yzak's constant outbreaks, and he could handle all the cursing and shouting during those times. But this was different. By mad, he meant Yzak was _really_ mad…the kind of mad when Yzak would follow him forever with that cold, piercing gaze, but refuse to actually talk. When indirect sarcasm was all he'd ever say. When the intense hatred made it hard to breathe within twenty feet distance from him.

The last time Yzak was _this_ mad at Dearka was in second year middle school, when he accidentally told the whole class Yzak still slept with a teddy bear. …Right?

……No, it wasn't.

Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder. The last time was that night when everyone got drunk, and when Yzak woke up in Dearka's bed without a piece of clothing on him.  
And though they both agreed _nothing_…absolutely _nothing_ happened between them, Yzak gave Dearka silent treatment for 15 days, 12 hours and 46 minutes. Yes, he actually counted. That was how excruciating it was.

"Yzak?"  
The glare.  
"Yzak, come on."  
His eyes thinned. And as Dearka _had_ to admit it looked cute, the cuteness didn't cancel out the terror it sent down his spine.  
"Yzak, please. Stop acting like that. I'm sorry, okay?"  
His eyes were less little than slits now.  
"Look, I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean it to happen."  
Yzak's facial expression read: _Sorry, my ass.  
_"I had no choice."  
_No choice? What the fuck_.

Yzak diverted his eyes from Dearka, and started glaring at a certain point of the tablecloth. With such intensity that Dearka was afraid it might catch fire.

"Okay, I'd like the doenjang jjigae set. How about you, Athrun?"  
"Me? Uh…um…beef bulgogi lunch box please."  
"Hm…could I have the…naengmyong?"  
"Nakji bokeum set for me."  
"Jjam bbong looks good. With rice, please."  
Cagalli, Athrun, Lacus, Kira and Shiho all ordered their food, and five…plus the waitress's making six…pairs of eyes turned to Dearka and Yzak. Surprised at the sudden attention, Dearka scanned the menu for the cheapest… yes, cheapest dish.

"Uh…how do you say this? Kimchi j..j…"  
"Kimchi jjigae? Okay. How about you, miss?"  
The waitress completed Dearka's sentence for him (he could not pronounce it, since he wasn't used to the strange spellings on the menu), then turned to Yzak. Yzak refused to move his gaze from the tablecloth or answer the waitress. Athrun, who recognized Yzak's condition, looked at Dearka to confirm his doubts. Dearka nodded, and Athrun almost slumped down his chair.

Athrun couldn't help but feel pity for his two former comrades, particularly Dearka.

"Yzak? Yzak!"  
The glare, _again_. Then Dearka remembered something very important.

Yzak Joule _hated_ spicy food. Couldn't eat was more like it. Ever since the both of them were kids, Yzak refused to have anything with food that burnt your tongue. He wasn't a fan of overly sweet things either, but spicy food was far way down in his list of edible food.

This time, Dearka didn't fight the urge to slap his forehead. This probably wasn't the only thing, but it sure was one of the reasons Yzak was officially pissed off.

"Yzak? If you aren't saying anything, I'm gonna order for you."  
The dreaded glare intensified, and Dearka seriously felt a part of his skin scorching.  
"Well then. Miss, do you have anything _not_ spicy?"  
The waitress seemed confused. For one, this was a _Korean_ restaurant. People who didn't like spicy food didn't enter through the door. Secondly, she herself was Korean, and Koreans often don't than do consider their food so hot.  
"Plain rice?"  
"No, I mean."  
"Sir, nothing on the menu is particularly _that_ spicy."  
Dearka glanced at the menu, and thought, _yeah right, whatever. Everything is so damn RED!_

After a few more seconds, he ordered bibimbap for Yzak, since the waitress insisted that bibimbap was _not_ spicy.

When the confused waitress left, Dearka opened his mouth to protest against Yzak. Unsuccessful attempt. The two had to sit in complete silence for about fifteen minutes before the food came, and Athrun's sympathetic looks were the only thing that kept Dearka from banging his head on the table.

xoxox

"The food was so good! I loved it!"  
"Yeah, I know! I'll make sure I remember that restaurant!"  
Cagalli and Kira said cheerfully as they exited an hour later. They shared their love for spicy food, which was natural since they were twins. Shiho nodded too, though she didn't know when would be the next time she'd come to Orb.

"Well, now that we are full, what should we do now?"  
Lacus said with her ever-gentle smile that Dearka and Athrun both were terrified of at this point.  
"Let's just hang around. We really can't go out that often, so…"  
"I suppose being a chief representative and chairwoman is really hard, huh?"  
"Yeah, I know. At least I got off for today!"  
Shiho smiled as Cagalli stretched happily. It amazed her how people her age…and even younger managed to handle so much responsibilities.

"I'm okay with anything as long as Lacus is happy."  
Kira smiled very innocently, and Lacus returned the same innocent smile. They were so cute together…but only a few knew what they were truly capable of.  
"How about you, Athrun? Anywhere you wanna go?"  
"Wh…what? Oh, no, it's up to you."  
Athrun replied, knowing that nothing was more precious than his own sweet life.

_I guess I don't even have a say, then?_ Dearka pondered, feeling very miserable. He was now officially broke, and was indebted to Athrun. And his _supposedly_ best friend was pissed off at him.

Yzak was even _more_ pissed after the lunch, Dearka knew, since the bibimbap wasn't _not_ spicy after all.  
Or maybe it wasn't, but it was enough to make Yzak tear. The only good thing was that Shiho didn't notice it, and that she didn't poke fun at her commander. _That_ would have been enough for a month with silent treatment.

_God damnit with the magical potion…so much for fun._

Not that he dared say it out loud.

_

* * *

_

_To all you guys wondering what the Korean restaurant was all about, below are the different dishes, who ordered which, and a short description of each. _

Cagalli: Doenjjang jjigae-soybean paste stew with beef, vegetables, tofu. Guess it depends on the restaurant, but it isn't that spicy.  
_Athrun: Bulgogi-grilled pork or beef with a spicy-sweet sort of sauce. Not that spicy.  
__Lacus: Naengmyeon-cold noodle with soup, with pork or beef, boiled egg, kimchi, cucumbers… Not that spicy. Or not spicy at all.  
__Kira: Nakji bokeum-octopus in spicy sauce. This one (at least the ones I've eaten) is freakin' hot. And I mean, HOT.  
__Shiho: Jjam bbong-spicy noodle soup with vegetable and seafood. HOT. Or so I thought before, but now I'm okay with it.  
__Dearka: Kimchi jjigae-kimchi stew with pork and tofu. It depends on the restaurant, but medium spicy…ish?  
__Yzak: Bibimbap-meat, vegetables, egg on rice with red spicy paste. Not that spicy. Or not spicy at all._

_Oh my god, I _LOVE_ Korean food. No, unfortunately I am not Korean... But if being one meant I could eat Korean food everyday, I gladly would be one. Lol. Not that I could.  
I haven't been to a Korean restaurant for SO LONG! I swear, I really wanna eat jjam bbong... IT'S THE BEST! Haha._


	8. 03:00PM Unplanned Encounters

"I just hate that. I mean, what is wrong with wearing pants? It's not jeans, it's slacks!"  
"…It's very un-princesslike?"  
"Well, you know, skirts _are_ uncomfortable."  
The seven were scanning through the streets of Orb, stopping when they came across interesting shops and places. Cagalli, Lacus and Shiho were walking in front, debating whether the other representatives should comment on Cagalli's preferences with pants or not. The men were walking behind them, talking about other things. Not like guys could talk about skirts after all.

Yzak Joule was walking about ten steps behind the guys. He was _not_ talking about skirts with the girls, nor was he going anywhere near Dearka.

_Damn the cursed bastard to hell and back._

Damn this whole visit to Orb. Damn meeting Athrun or his friends. Damn everything.  
He was wasting his pure time off in this fuckin' foreign country, as a _girl_, and letting everyone around humiliate him.

Though everyone seemed to have _forgotten_, Yzak Joule was a respectable man that came from a famous and honorable family, who commanded a ship in ZAFT and held an important position in the PLANT council. He was one of the top elites, who was promised a successful future. Not to mention he was _straight_, and did not take on cross-dressing _or_ kissing men.

He was _NOT _a woman, _NOT _a Barbie doll, _NOT _someone who Shiho could refer to by his family name alone, and _most of all NOT_ someone who'd kiss his best friend for the sake of movie tickets.

B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T.

He was so bored and infuriated that he started spelling out swearwords using letters on signboards and advertisements. Then he got bored of that too, and started tracing swearwords on Dearka's back by his glare.

F-U-C-K. G-O-D-D-A-M-N-I-T. S-O-N-O-F-A-B-I-T-C-H.

Dearka broke out in cold sweat. Somehow, he could feel his back scorching. He was always good at the guess-what-I'm-writing-on-your-back sort of games, and he never regretted that. _Until NOW.  
__Now_, though, he wanted so badly to be oblivious to the words a certain _somebody_ decided to brand on his back. It was little less than plain murderous, and it scared him more to know the state that _somebody_ was in at the moment.

"Dearka? Are you alright?"  
"Yeah, you seem a bit…sick."  
"…Huh? Oh…uh…I'm fine."  
Dearka answered Athrun and Kira tentatively, but Kira didn't seem convinced.  
"Are you sure?"  
"I'm fine right now, while a certain _somebody_ isn't. But I won't be fine much longer if this _somebody_ doesn't decide to let it go."  
Athrun understood, and nodded. He patted Dearka's back sympathetically, feeling pity for his friend. _Oh Lacus, what have you done?_ Of course, he doesn't say it out loud.

xoxox

"Hey girl, you alone?"  
"Wanna come with us?"  
Meanwhile, about fifteen steps behind, three teenage delinquents decided to pay some attention to this unknown beauty who came along their way. In other words, three huge drunk teenagers started hitting on Yzak.

Boy, if only Yzak had his gun! He'd show them what it meant to be first at shooting in the ZAFT military academy. He thought of all the _sweet_ times when he'd hit Dearka with his air gun, _pretending_ it to be an accident. And Athrun too, occasionally… How naïve they both were to actually _believe_it was an accidentwas beyond him…  
Too bad, though. He had forgotten to bring it along with his wallet amid the frustration to a dress. PERFECT.

_Just a perfect day. CURSE MY ROTTEN LUCK!_

"Hey, you listenin'?"  
One of them grabbed Yzak's arm when he decided to ignore the _unwanted attention_. Yzak cursed under his breath, knowing that he'd never get away _now_. One thing he hated about his current form was that it was so _weak_. If he'd been in his usual form, he'd have beat the crap out of them three times over. And he certainly _could_ have.

But _now_, he couldn't so much as break their grip. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH WOMEN?

"Get the fuck off me."  
Yzak hissed and glared at the three. And though they seemed a bit take aback by the naïve (so much for misunderstandings) girl's sudden aggressive behavior, they started laughing.  
"Tell me what is _so_ funny, would you?"  
"You sure don't act like you look. Well…"  
The guy who held Yzak leaned and whispered in his ear.  
"We like girls like that."  
The drunken breath on his ear and snickers from the two other teenagers was enough to send chills down Yzak's spine.

"YOU FUCKIN' ASSHOLE!"  
Yzak shouted, trying to break away. A sudden thought of what _might _happen scared him down to the bone.  
_No way, man. This is just plain crazy…  
_"Yeah sure. We'd love to."  
The platinum blonde widened his eyes at the realization of his sentence's meaning. WHAT? Oh shit. _Oh shit_.  
"Get off, are you deaf?"  
"No way girl. Here, come with us."  
The teenagers started pulling Yzak into a dark alley, and though Yzak tried with _all_ his effort, he couldn't break away. Passers-by pretended not to see the situation, since they were too scared of the delinquents.

_You'd be more scared of _me_ if I had my _goddamn_ gun!  
_Yzak thought, but knew very well that he couldn't say that. Or that no one would believe him if he did.

xoxox

"……?"  
Dearka suddenly felt the glare and the hostility towards him disappear. He realized happily he could actually _breath_ again, but then, something felt out of place.

Well, _why_ did the hostility disappear all of a sudden? Did it mean Yzak forgave him? _Oh really? Hallelujah!  
_But no, it couldn't be. It was too soon. Silent treatment went on for at least 5 days. _AT LEAST_.

"Dearka…?"  
Kira's voice sounded somewhat distance as Dearka turned around. And there he didn't see something he shouldn't have seen.  
He didn't see a pair of ice-blue eyes that belonged to the little devil, who threatened to kill…

He meant he didn't see Yzak.

"Oh shit, Yzak… AARGH!"  
Dearka shouted in frustration. Yzak wasn't following them, which meant he was either lost or he got caught up in some sort of trouble.  
"Oh my god, Yzak isn't here!"  
"I wonder if he got lost?"  
"Really? That is horrible!"  
And thanks to the _Pink Princess _who just spoke, _he_'d have to go after the little de…he meant Yzak.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID I EVER DO TO DESERVE THIS?"  
Dearka bellowed to the frightened passers-by, glared at everyone in the gang, and then started running. Now even if he _did_ find Yzak, Yzak'd probably kill him or something. Oh, so much for the _holiday_.

Dearka failed to notice how much sarcasm he'd got off his commander.

"Well, since Dearka went to look for Yzak, I guess we can proceed with our holiday?"  
"Oh yeah. Of course. Don't use your precious brain cells caring for those two. _Please_."  
Athrun, Kira and Cagalli looked at Lacus and Shiho with confusion and horror, but since Kira was persuaded by Lacus's smile, Athrun and Cagalli had to follow them.

xoxox

"Let go off me, you asshole!"  
Moments later, Yzak found himself _alone_ in a goddamn alley with the three crazy teenagers. One held his arms at the back, so that he wouldn't escape. The teenager twisted Yzak's arm, trying to repress the shouts and curses, but Yzak didn't so much as move a brow.  
"Shut up, girl. Like anyone would hear you."  
"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR BLOODY PROBLEM?"  
"That you wouldn't shut up?"  
One of the other two hit Yzak's face in another attempt to silence him. But that tactic didn't work with Yzak; as weak as he'd become, his resistance to pain wasn't gone.

Yzak seriously thought these teenagers needed military service. And that someone would _kill them off_ in the battlefield.

"BASTARDS! Let me go, damnit!"  
One of them…Yzak long stopped trying to decide which was which, they were all too similar… raised an eyebrow.  
"We keep tellin' you to shut up. Is that so hard to understand?"  
"The hell…"  
The teenager was getting tired of all the talking. They had a girl, and _he_ at least didn't want to spend time with all this chit-chat. _Since when were girls supposed to swear so much anyway?_

I _sincerely_ regret that no one around told them that Yzak was _not_ a girl.

He grabbed hold of Yzak's chin and tilted it up. Then pushed his drunken breath on Yzak's lips. For a moment, Yzak couldn't see anything… The world went black. This was _wrong_. This was just SO WRONG. The _wrongness_ of it gave him goose bumps. It was so different from Dearka's kiss, when everything was warm and pleasant; _this_ was just plain _bullshit_. And he swore he could've gotten drunk from the teenager's breath alone.

"WHAT IN THE FUCKIN' WORLD IS YOUR GODDAMN PROBLEM?"  
After he was freed from the much _unwanted_ encounter, Yzak half screeched and half hissed. _Oh, his gun. His sweet, sweet _fuckin'_ gun!_ He was so mad. Pissed off. He was past the 'silent treatment' mode, and he reached a higher level. But at the same time, he was scared too. The seriousness of the situation started to dawn on him, and it made him shudder to think….._oh shit_…he was at the mercy of three crazy, drunk teenagers.

"God damnit…"  
He wondered what his _friends_ were doing. Did they even realize that Yzak Joule was _not freakin' where he should be_? Oh no, probably not. They were probably too busy looking at each other's eyes, making out.  
But was there still hope? He thought about his subordinates. He'd be _damned_ if Shiho and Dearka started making out.That simply meant _Armageddon._

"_Shit_… Hahnenfuss! Elsman!"  
He shouted as loudly as he could, his voice so freakin' _high_ and _girly_ he almost puked on it. But this wasn't the perfect time for sarcasm. Panic settled in as the teenagers closed up on him, and he raised his _high _and _girly_ voice again. There was too much blur, too much different thoughts flooding his mind at once…  
"Damn you all! Elsman! Shit, Dearka! _DEARKA!_"  
A part of him detachedly wondered why he was calling for _Dearka_. When everything inside him _hated_ that particular blonde. For the time being.

"De…"  
"Y…zak?"  
Then, for some miraculous reason or another, that one blonde he swore to _skin alive_ was suddenly standing there. _There_. Yzak thought he was finally going crazy. Or if it was a joke on him by the gods (like he even believed in them anyway...Yzak Joule was his own divinity. Or, perhaps, he worshipped his pride.), this was certainly _not funny_. He thought _this_ was a good time to try fainting for once in his life, since he never experienced that oh-so-mysterious phenomenon.

Like that'll actually happen, but still.

Dearka stood there, blinking. He, too, thought this kind of joke was a bit too cruel.  
"Yzak…wait wait _wait_. What the FUCK?"  
This _sight_…no, _spectacle_ was a bit nerve wrecking. Yzak Joule, his commander known for his fiery temper, about to be …uh… taken advantage of by three drunk teenagers? Oh hell, that was not even funny. Did he turn crazy after all these _experiences _for that day?

Two blinks, and he thought _this was not right_. One more blink, and he thought_ this was plain BULLSHIT_. Though he hadn't the slightest, eensy-bintsy idea as to _why_, but he didn't like it. _No sir_, he didn't like it _at all_. An unexplained anger boiled in his stomach, and then _snap_ went his nerves, which were already running thin anyway.

In less than ten seconds, the three teenagers were knocked out cold on the ground, and Dearka was relieved to see Yzak was still safe and in one piece. If he'd been any slower, heaven knows what _terrible_ fate awaited for Yzak.

"I swear, what the _fuck_ were you thinking, _damnit_!"  
Dearka shouted at his panic-stricken commander with red hot fury. Yzak still hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing Dearka, much less the said _useless_ subordinate shouting and cursing at him. Which didn't happen often.  
"At first it was plain annoying, and _then_ you got me WORRIED SICK! Don't even THINK it's funny, just disappearing like that."  
"…I wouldn't have been in all this _shit_ if _you_ noticed earlier."  
Yzak hissed under his breath, recovering slowly from the initial shock. Dearka stared, blinked, and shook his head. That was a sign that Dearka was back to normal.

"Ugh. I swear. We've gotta catch up on them."  
Dearka said as he grabbed Yzak's hand, but Yzak pulled away.  
"I'm supposed to be mad at you with every fiber of my being."  
"After _THAT_? That is what you _say_?"  
"It's true…"  
"Shut the _FUCK_ up, Yzak Joule. You aren't getting pissed off at me for something that _I. AM. NOT. RESPONSIBLE. ABOUT._"

Dearka's rare pissy mood came back (and what he was saying wasn't wrong too, but Yzak didn't know that), and Yzak was momentarily shocked. But even Yzak knows it when he touched a nerve, and, well. Let me just tell you Dearka's tantrums are worse (for Yzak at least), probably due to its rarity. But not to worry, there was a very _simple_ way to get him out of it.

"…….y."  
"Don't expect me to catch that since I don't have _bunny ears_."  
"…rry."  
"WHAT!"  
"……SORRY!"  
Yzak shouted out, too embarrassed to say it normally. He wasn't accustomed to apologizing. Dearka's bad mood instantly faded after that _one magic word_, and Yzak laughed in his mind at how easy to manipulate his friend was.

Not knowing the _Pink Princess_ thought that exact same line at the exact same time, perhaps using the phrase 'oblivious fools' instead of 'friend'.

"So let's go. And don't let go of my hand since _I am not going to be held responsible_ for _your any mess_."  
"No need to say, I'm not getting involved with _all these scum_ anymore."  
The two _best_ friends grinned and held each other's hands firmly, and walked out of the dark alley. They were so cute together under the sunlight…

"But where are they anyway?"  
"Oh_...shit_."

* * *

_Okay, major OOC-ness here. I'm sorry. I just had to write this... And I'm aware it's not really that funny. Hopefully, my sense of humor will come back to me in the next chapter._

_Dearka doesn't get mad in the series, does he?_


	9. 03:15PM Walk in the streets

"And so you are telling me you don't have a freakin' clue as to where those damn bastards went?"  
Yzak said, quietly but spitefully. If you are wondering why he wasn't just shouting like he normally did, well…he already shouted too much during the morning that his voice was threatening to crack.

Yzak Joule with his haughty pride did _not_ let his voice crack. _Never_ would the _mighty_ commander of Voltaire sound raspy. That was _so not right_.  
And he had enough sense to stop shouting when it was enough. A side of him only Dearka knew or cared about.

_As a friend_, of course. Forgive me if you see me rolling my eyes. Well, the reason why they both knew _so much_ (as a friend, yes I know, don't blame me if I don't actually believe it) was because…  
_No other person bothered to hang around them_.

Yzak was too proud and egoistic and pissed off all the time. No one took Dearka seriously, because of his happy-go-lucky ways and irresponsibility.  
Oh, please. _Please_. Who would want to disturb their 'own friggin' universe' with the risk of getting deaf or killed?

Anyways, they were walking on the streets of Orb, _hand in hand_, towards the direction Dearka _thought_ the rest went. It was too unfortunate neither of them had any money on them, because they couldn't take a buy anything to quench their thirst (the temperature in Orb was 38 degrees Celsius…don't ask me the Fahrenheit equivalent, I do not know), or get a taxi and just go back to the Athha estate.

"Oh shoot. Why do we have to do this?"  
Yzak was to exhausted to even sound sarcastic. The heat, the humidity, this absurd situation…and to think he was stuck with _Dearka_, with _no_ money at all. Dearka just looked at his friend apologetically.

"Look, I don't personally care if Hahnenfuss and Zala and Strike and the Representative…"  
"It's Kira, not Strike. He doesn't even ride the Strike anymore. And Cagalli is the _chief_ representative."  
"Shut the fuck up, I _know_. It's just so fuckin' long to say. I was saying, I don't care if those people and the Chairwoman go to hell and die. So…"  
"If Shiho dies, you'll have twice as much paperwork to do. And I know you'd care about Athrun because of the last war, and the Council will be in _utter chaos_ if Lacus dies."  
"It was an _expression_, Dearka."  
Yzak rolled his eyes while Dearka gave an amused smile. Then his expression went blank with horror when he realized what they'd said about Lacus Clyne. If she ever found out…_Oh hell_. Literally.

"Yzak, you know… You shouldn't talk about the Pin… Lacus Clyne like that."  
"Pin…?"  
Yzak repeated that syllable, wondering what a _pin_ had to do with anything. Dearka quickly shook his head, suddenly aware only he…and probably Athrun…called her the Pink Princess.  
"No, nothing."  
"…? Oh well, whatever. Why?"  
"Yzak, you are in the Council, right?"  
"…Even the most incompetent Natural would have figured that out by now, Dearka Elsman."  
"Never… _never_ go against Lacus Clyne. You hear?"  
Dearka said in a very serious tone, shaking Yzak by his shoulders. Yzak nodded with bewilderment, wondering if the heat had finally gotten his friend crazy.

When he looked back the next year, he would find out (with surprise and horror) how this particular advice spared him his life and everything significant to him.

"So what do we do now…?"  
Yzak sighed about fifteen seconds later.  
"…You know, Yzak……"  
Dearka said hesitantly after a short pause. He closed his eyes, since he had found out something _fatal_.  
"I am really sorry, but I think we are lost."

Yzak blinked. If only Dearka had his eyes open, I swear he would have fell to the ground laughing.  
Oh, don't look at me so strangely. Wouldn't _you_ think it is amusing to look at someone go from completely lost, to shocked with his sudden realization, then anger boiling his eyes, and finally to a murderous expression? I don't actually see how that's even _possible_, but Yzak made it happen.

"ELSMAN! What the _fuck_ do you mean we are _lost_?"  
Yzak shouted, forgetting all his resolution for not making his voice crack. He proceeded on to choking Dearka, but couldn't really do that because of the height difference. The passers-by threw apprehensive glances at the two, and one actually considered calling the police, but they tried _very_ hard to persuade themselves it was a lover's spat.

Yzak, even as a girl, was scary enough to give an old person a heart attack. If and only because Lacus wasn't there.

"Yzak, come on. As if _you_ know the way either."  
"How the _fuck_ should I know, ELSMAN, _you_ were the one who blindly pulled me around the streets of this damn city!"  
Dearka sank into his thoughts, looking like a completely depressed lunatic who just ran away from an asylum.

_Somehow_, Yzak knew exactly how to make people feel like crap. The right words with the right tone…It _always_ worked. Or maybe it wasn't Yzak, it was the Joule blood. I mean, look at Ezaria. She also had that skill…in fact, Yzak was ever-so-green compared to her in that field.

Ezaria did it in a more discreet manner where no one could blame her.

Am I the only one who just thought Yzak's mom might go well with Lacus? Am I the only one who shiver with fright at the _mere_ idea of that? If Lacus is the _Pink Princess_, Ezaria Joule could be the _Silver Empress_. And together they could _easily_ take over the whole universe.

_Oh well_. Enough of _that_, let's move on with what we've started.

"Let's just go back to the Representative's place. I don't give a _shit_ about this city, so there."  
"But…how will we even get there? We're _lost_!"  
Yzak scoffed at Dearka who had a _I'm-a-lost-puppy-and-I-need-a-new-nice-and-caring-home_ look in his eyes, trying to rub in the sense of _superiority_ against his so-called subordinate.

Oh yeah, _forget_ about the kiss, _forget_ about him saving Yzak, along with _everything_ that he did for Yzak's sake.  
It was only at times like _this_ that Yzak got to torment Dearka like that, right? The blonde was too ignorant and insensitive to catch Yzak's usual swearing and/or sarcasm.

"It's the freakin' Athha Estate, Dearka. Even in the most _stupid_, _screwed up_ country, the citizens usually know where their chief of state lives."  
Dearka's lip formed a huge "O", but he didn't exactly seem convinced. Yzak snickered; it wasn't everyday he got to see Dearka so…different.

Last time was… _Oh hell_, it was so long back ago he didn't even remember.

xoxox

About an hour later, Yzak and Dearka managed to arrive at the humongous gate they'd_ just_ (or so it seemed) came out from. The platinum blonde had a triumphant, cocky smile, while the normal, plain blonde stood there with awe.

"Wow, we actually made it."  
Yzak shot an _I-told-you-so_ look at Dearka. _Of course, I'm YZAK JOULE. I can do anything._

If you're wondering, that _anything_ probably does not include beating Athrun (in anything except perhaps singing), annoying the hell out of Dearka, intimidating Shiho, getting revenge on the Strike for that scar, talking back to his oh-so-overprotective mother, keeping himself out of the clutches of Lacus, and staying safe alone on the streets of Orb.

The two walked down the extensive garden, heading towards the main door. They were fully intending to spend their holiday in peace while waiting for the others to return. They still would be out, _right_?

No, of course not. You do not see me rolling my eyes, do you?

"Yzak! Dearka! We were so worried about you!"  
The moment they opened those huge doors, their blue-haired ex-comrade greeted them with a somewhat …_forced_… enthusiasm. Unlike Yzak whose jaws were dropped just like that, Dearka recognized the strained expression.

"Uh…are you all…back?"  
_Is Lacus back?  
_"Yeah, we are. Come in…"  
_Of course she is, no duh.  
_"Were you guys really _that_ worried?"  
_Are we in trouble?  
_"Uh huh. So glad you're here now."  
_Don't worry, she's with Kira as of the moment._

It amazed both Dearka and Athrun how they learnt to communicate through their looks only. I guess a common…well, Lacus isn't exactly an _antagonist_, but I am forced to use that word for a lack of a more eloquent term. A common antagonist strengthens certain bonds.

Yzak was the only one lost. He is _supposedly_ very smart, but he _always_ was left out. I mean, look at the last war. Wasn't Yzak the _only_ one who was kept in the dark about …well… practically _everything_?

"Oh, Mr. Joule!"  
"You're back?"  
"I was wondering how you'd make it…"  
"…Life was so much better without you, _commander_."

Hey, why aren't the people calling Dearka's name? …_Oh_, I see, he's hiding behind Athrun. No wonder.

Lacus, Kira, Cagalli and Shiho all came from the hall with a pleasant smile on their faces. Their actions showed genuine relief at seeing Yzak back, but their _eyes_ said otherwise. There was an evil sort of amusement in their eyes.

Even _Kira_. The innocent, kind boy had that look. Athrun almost slapped himself seeing how his best friend had been… altered by his ex-fiancée. He started wondering seriously how much longer their friendship was going to work at this rate.

* * *

_Here comes the new chapter, and let me tell you I'm really stuck with what to do now. Ooh. What time is it now here anyway?_

_Thanks to my reviewers, by the way. Sorry if I'm not listing you guys down, it's just that I'm about to fall asleep on my computer, and I can't do anything productive..._


	10. 04:00PM At the Athha Estate

Dearka tried to repress a yawn while looking extremely bored. He was having a peaceful time for the first time that day. At first he was immensely grateful for being relieved from constant tension he'd had to keep up with. But then, he realized how _boring_ it was when only _he_ was having a moment of peace.

How did _peace_, something he couldn't have been farther from him (at least for that day) come that way anyways?

"CHEAT!"  
"…Are you _sure_?"  
"……Yes."  
"Ha. In your face."  
"…No _FUCKIN'_ way! I had three kings and you…"  
"You have three kings? Well, now you've got four. Thanks for the information."  
"ARGH! God damn you all to hell and back!"

The blonde cocked an eyebrow and glanced at the source of all the commotion. The rest of the gang was playing a card game called Cheat, otherwise known as Bullshit or Doubt. He was inwardly regretting for refusing to play, but how _could_ he at the beginning of the game when he didn't understand a thing about it?

"This is shit."  
As amazing as it was, that sudden remark came from _neither_ Dearka nor Yzak. No, believe it or not, it came from _Athrun_. _Athrun Zala_, the quiet, thoughtful boy.  
"……Excuse me?"  
"You heard me, this is shit."  
"No, I meant. Did you just swear?"  
"Yes, Cagalli. I swore. You heard it."  
Everyone, including Dearka who wasn't actually playing, stared at the youngest of the group (yes, believe it or not Athrun _is_ the youngest…go check it out if you don't believe me) with a dumbfounded expression.

"What I think Cagalli meant was, do you actually know how to swear?"  
"……"  
Athrun glared at Kira, probably for the _first_ time in their whole friendship…or maybe more than that, who knows?... and headed to the kitchen with a scowl. Kira, who never expected to receive such harsh treatment from his best friend, was on the verge of tears.  
"Wh…what? Why did Athrun look at me like that? Did I do something wrong? Why is Athrun mad at me?"  
"It's okay, Kira. Maybe Athrun is a bit tired…"  
Lacus immediately went to her boyfriend (otherwise expressed as poor, unknowing slave in the English language) and patted his back, comforting him with the gentle voice that occasionally gave not-so-gentle commands. From Dearka's opinion, _that_ was shit.

_Did Lacus make another potion, this one to piss people off?_

Dearka's curiosity made him follow Athrun to the kitchen. He also wondered if he only imagined Yzak glaring at him for the action… Well, maybe it wasn't. Yzak hated Athrun as far as anyone was concerned… He wouldn't really approve his best friend following his nemesis, would he? Or maybe, he was jealous. I mean, didn't Dearka just _heroically_ save Yzak from the worst thing that could've happened to him? Dearka almost laughed his head off at the thought.

Well, to be honest Dearka _was_ Wrong. _Wrong_, with a capital letter W. W-R-O-N-G.  
_Why?_ Because Yzak wasn't even glaring at Dearka. He was glaring at Shiho, who just happened to be in the same direction as Dearka. Yzak didn't give a shit about Dearka about the moment…he was too immersed in the game of Cheat. He was losing badly, and by that he meant he almost had half the cards in the game. That may not seem very bad, but if you consider the other half was shared by, well, it _had_ been five before Athrun left anyway, you can see how bad it was.

"I _swear_, you guys are all ganging up on me! How the hell do I KEEP ON LOSING?"  
"Simple, _commander_. You suck like hell."  
"No I _don't_. You guys keep cheating…"  
"That's the whole point of this game, Yzak!"  
"_Shut up_ Natural. That's not…"  
"Mr. Joule, don't call Cagalli that. It's not nice, especially since we are trying to establish world peace…"  
And you'd think the _whole universe_ would have entered an era of _fearful dictatorship _under Lacus Clyne.

Anyways, back to the topic.

"Oh, since a normal game is kinda boring, why don't we bet?"  
Please imagine a look of utter, _utter_ horror on the flawless face of Yzak Joule.  
"WHAT? But you already _know_ I'm gonna lose!"  
"Oh, the ever-_too_-proud commander of Voltaire admitting defeat?"  
This time, please imagine Shiho Hahnenfuss's world-famous victorious sneer despite Yzak's piercing glare.

"…What do you _want_?"  
"To humiliate you and break your pride in the most evil and amusing way possible."  
This was the _end of the world_, and Yzak _knew_ it. He never expected Shiho to have this, well, _not-so-pleasant_ side on her. But well, there is always something unexpected in every person you meet in your life.

"What the fuck do you mean by that, _Hahnenfuss_?"  
Yzak asked with his eyebrows twitching. And his reaction was only to be expected, because he _already was_ humiliated enough to last his lifetime.

I _do_ understand cross-dressing isn't as horrible to some as it may be for others, but you know. If you paid any attention to the Gundam Seed Series, I suppose you already have understood that Yzak is no such person.

"I haven't really thought of that…yet. Lacus, Cagalli, you have any ideas?"  
No, _I_ did not forget Kira was still there. It was _Shiho_ who did. Or deliberately ignored him, whichever.  
"Hmm… We already dressed him up…"  
Cagalli looked at Yzak with evilness practically shining out of her eyes. Then Lacus clapped her hands again just like when she suggested to dress our commander up, and cried out innocently (innocently used on Lacus means exactly the opposite, so keep note of that).  
"Oh, I have the _best_ idea! If you lose, Mr. Joule, we'll have you sing and dance Ms. Meer's song!"  
"Oh my god, Lacus, you are the _best_."  
"Good idea, isn't it?"

If you do not know, Meer Campbell was an unfortunate girl who was turned into a fake Lacus by Gilbert Dullindal. She took over as Lacus Clyne for a short period during the second war, and naturally she had some songs of her own. One of them is the song entitled "Emotion".

"…You. HAVE. To. Be. Kidding."  
Yzak said each and every word with so much hate and bitterness that you'd think he was just given a death sentence. Such was not the case, but it could be concluded the two things were more or less the same thing for Yzak.

If you do not know, "Emotion" is a very hyper-girly song. It would be shocking pink if it were to be a color. It's that song that played in the background when Lacus was reading Meer's diary.

"Oh no we're not! Are we?"  
"What the hell is your problem!"  
"God, Yzak! It's just a game!"  
"Our commander isn't admitting he can't sing, is he? I heard _Athrun Zala_ is a bad singer… surely our commander isn't the same as his academy-valedictorian ZAFT red FAITH comrade…"  
"Shut the FUCK up, HAHNENFUSS! Don't try my patience!"  
"I'm not. Really. Am I?"  
Insert an innocent shrug.

And _then_ insert a strangled scream.

_AND THEN_ just go laugh at Yzak Joule's rotten luck, because that is what I am doing right now.

xoxox

"Athrun?"  
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, two forgotten people were having a lonely conversation away from the noisier group.  
"Dearka? Is that you?"  
"Do I look like Lacus Clyne to you?"  
Athrun evidently shuddered when he heard that name.  
"You never know, Dearka. You _never_ know."

Dearka just felt the saddened state of Athrun, and felt a sudden pang of sympathy for his ex-comrade. Just _how much_ hardship did Athrun have to go through? Having Lacus as a fiancée, being best friends with Kira… I mean, really. Having Yzak as a best friend wasn't easy either, but Lacus and Kira were just… Heck, he even had trouble putting it down in words.

"Oh, it's alright Athrun."  
Dearka gave a sympathetic pat on Athrun's shoulder and sat down beside him. Athrun looked at him suspiciously for a moment, but tears began to well in his eyes.

Not that he actually started crying. _Big boys_ aren't supposed to cry.

Unless you are Kira.

Whatever.

Anyways, Athrun became dangerously close to crying, but he somehow managed to hold it back. Then he hugged Dearka and croaked out two words.  
"Thank you…"  
"Oh, nothing to thank me about. You must have had a hard experience, haven't you?"  
Athrun nodded so violently at this that his head almost _fell off_ his neck. Dearka could have sworn he saw a fluffy tail wagging on his back…but well, it could have been the side effect of a new drug Lacus Clyne was _unknowingly_ testing on him…

You never know. _You NEVER know_.

A brotherly warm atmosphere was growing between the two victims of a certain …ahem… someone's schemes, but a frustrated screa… no, sorry. The proud, _proud_ commander never screams. A frustrated shout…or howl, depending on which you prefer…filled their ears and broke the warmness.

It was time for Yzak Joule to perform a shocking pink song called "Emotion".

* * *

_Oh yay, the divider actually works now!_

_I am so sorry to everyone who read this fic... I know I took forever to update. And I do not intend to whine or make excuses about it, because it is true that I haven't been working as hard on it as I should be. Hopefully I can come up with another chapter before long..._

_Thanks again to all of my reviewers, and everyone else reading this sentence right now. I love you all!_


	11. 05:30PM At the auditorium

Half an hour passed.

To Yzak Joule and _only _Yzak Joule, it seemed to be a whole freakin' day.

Why? Oh, come on! It's just so fun and exciting to learn the lyrics and steps to the shocking-pink song called "Emotion" you wouldn't even feel the time go by! It was the best experience that Yzak Joule ever, _ever_ had.

So _NOT_.

The last half an hour was plain torture for our fellow silver-haired victim of Lacus Clyne (or so two other pathetic young men would have called him). He had been the second best in the ZAFT academy. He became the youngest commander of a ship in the entire ZAFT history. He had grown up as the only son and inheritor of one of the most prestigious names…and largest wealth…in all of PLANTS.

But none of the insert swearword mentioned above changed the fact that he was in Orb, visiting his (evil) friends as a freakin' _girl_, dressed up in the _exact same costume_ MEER CAMPBELL WORE, and about to perform the most embarrassing song and dance in front of his (traitorous) comrades.

"Here comes our guest singer for tonight…"  
"…Mr…nope, Ms. Yzak Joule…"  
"…with the song…"  
"_EMOTION!_"

Three devils' …oops, rewind that… the three girls' cheery voices sounded in the distance, and Yzak clenched his fist at the back of the curtain.

Oh yes, the _curtain_. Who would have though Lacus would make it such a realistic presentation? No, wait, how did they get Meer's costume? And why in the whole, wide, _fuckin'_ world was there a _stage_ complete with curtains and sound sets in the basement of the Athha Estate?

Poor, poor Yzak. You just don't ask those questions, buddy.

The overly happy and girly…_oh crap, this was B-LLSH-T_…tune of Emotion started to kick in, as he gripped himself. This was fuckin' bullshit. Well then, so be it. Who even gave a shit about how embarrassing it was?

No, _really_. The whole freakin' day was complete embarrassment.

The curtain opened, revealing a huge hall that would seat about a thousand people with only three goddamn people…no, not even people. They were the devil… in it. Now Yzak seriously stopped caring. Oh shit, but who the fuckin' hell cares? He turned around remembering the perfectly choreographed dance that went with the song.

_emotion__　きっとこの空は夢の形 __emotion The sky is the shape of our dream  
__ときめくこの鼓動響いてる __Our heartbeat sounding…_

A step right, a step left. And to think how _girly_ he must have looked! Yzak bit his lip with fury while he glared at the small audience below.

xoxox

Meanwhile, Dearka, Athrun and Kira were all staring at Yzak…or …ahem… a certain part of Yzak that …bounced. Well, who could blame them? They were just some hormonal teenagers who had to get their tension off _somewhere_. Even if that somewhere meant a guy-turned-into-a-girl, who happened to be an ex-comrade, current commander, or former enemy.

Yeah, screw that. All that mattered was that there was a hot (and let me say that again…_HOT_) girl on stage in a very revealing costume, dancing and singing, and a certain part of her bouncing along with it.

Athrun and Kira better be thankful that their girlfriends did not catch them gaping, though, or they might have had to go through some very, _very_ traumatic experiences.

"_Damn_, I never knew Yzak could sing so well…"  
"Are you sure it's not lip-synched?"  
"It sounds better than the real Meer Campbell."  
Awestruck by the unexpected quality of the performance, the three gaped shamelessly. I mean, _who_ could have thought that grumpy _Yzak Joule_ could sing so well? And dance with it?

Oh sure, probably his _dearest mother_ would know. Although Yzak personally preferred it to be kept a secret, Ezaria loved dressing Yzak up as a girl when he was young. And on some of those occasions, she made him sing and act.

Since his voice hadn't changed yet at that time, he could have passed for a girl any time he wanted to. _Not that he can't right now_ (you did not hear me say that, by the way), but you get my point?

Athrun glanced to his left, where Dearka was sitting, and…_freaked_. That tan boy was looking at his …_ahem_… commander (yeah, like anyone cares at this point) with this…unexplainable glow. The same glow he noticed when Kira looked at Lacus along the end of the war.

No, _of course_ Lacus didn't have that "glow". Do you actually believe she would believe in something so _trivial_?

Kira, more naïve than her, was seen often teased about how his atmosphere would suddenly _spark up_ whenever Lacus came by. And Athrun felt that exact spark and warmness from Dearka who was looking at Yzak.  
_Oh god, this can't be good…_

Of course, Athrun. How right you are.

xoxox

"Hey Yzak! How come you never sang when we were in the academy?"  
"You should have been the temporary songstress of ZAFT instead of Lacus!"  
As soon as our insert snicker princess stepped out of the _dressing room_ (Again, our very own chief representative of Orb has peculiar hobbies. To question them is not your smartest move…especially if your name starts with and A and ends with a N.)

That same person, who spoke the first line by the way, happened to glance at Dearka, who spoke neither of the lines. And bumping his head probably wouldn't have made the situation any better. His smartass-blonde-_"lady's man"_ friend was blushing like a teenage schoolgirl.

A split-second, fearful moment was all he needed to confirm Lacus had meant _this, _TOO, to happen. Oh… _OOOH_ yes, that sparkly naught in her eyes!

The temperature seemed to have dropped _at least _10 degrees for Athrun. Just and only for him.

* * *

_Took forever for me to finish this chapter... I'm so sorry...for the fact it's late and it's short!!!  
I swear... it's unbelievable how short this chapter is..._

_Thanks to all my readers and reviewers...!!!!_


	12. 06:00PM Change for dinner

"Oh hey, shouldn't we eat now? It's almost time…"  
"Hmm…. You have a point. Let's go up, Mana probably made a light snack or something."  
Stop. Turn right. If you look to the nearest silver blob in your sight, you will see the youngest commander of a ship in ZAFT history.

It is entirely up to you whether to laugh at him or feel pity for this poor soul. I am laughing, if you wanted to know.

"…_What_? What _now_?"  
He croaked …yes, _croaked_… out those three words like a broken doll. He was too worn inside to feel any violent repugnance to whatever lay ahead.

Or so he thought.

"Hasn't anyone told you, Mr. Joule? Cagalli invited some friends over for a formal dinner party."  
Damn, Yzak. Glare at Dearka and not the Pink Princess if you put any value on your life at all.  
"A party. _Formal_ dinner party. _PARDON_?"  
"Yzak, well…"  
The oblivious blonde stepped in, trying to save his best friend from the gruesome death he may have encountered, but that all ended in vain.

"_Dearka Elsman_."  
"……Yes?"  
"Is there _anything_ else I need to be enlightened to before I die of some emotional overload?"  
"…Uh……They probably mean for you to wear a dress?"  
"As unbelievable as it may seem, I am not _that_ dull."  
"Well…"  
The magical potion crossed his mind, but he knew that the revelation of who was behind all of this …the _mastermind_, shall I say… will result in someone's death, which was most probably his.

Athrun, too, was thinking about the same line. But then, again, he did not feel enough attachment towards Yzak to seriously consider something that involved _someone's_ gruesome death. Yeah, he wasn't like this other boy they…_we_ all know who is very, _very_ attached to Yzak.

"Do I _have_ to go there?"  
The platinum blonde, past the point of anger and just plain annoyed at everything, started whining as they walked up the stairs.  
"No duh Yzak. That was the whole point: for the young leaders of ZAFT to _socialize_ with the Orb's most promising youths."  
A short glance was followed by a deep sigh.  
"Not that _that_ would work now, since I can't present Yzak Joule as a girl. Unless you are positive you will _be_ a girl from now on."  
"Well, I _sincerely_ hope not."  
Lacus chuckled softly, and Dearka felt like bowing to her feet. _Oh, the "freedom" we fought for risking our lives and military career… If only I knew we were going under another dictatorship!_

"Oh, but we can introduce Mr. Joule as the cousin…or some relative to Mr. Joule, can't we?"  
"Like a secret _twin_?"  
Dearka couldn't keep that sarcastic comment to himself, and so now I say poor, poor Dearka. May he rest in peace. Don't worry, I'm just kidding. I can't let him die _now_, or it will lessen the fun. Insert an evil laugh at your preference.  
"No, not a _twin_. That is such a bad lie. Yes, I think a cousin will be the best thing… and no one will ever say anything if she wouldn't come out again. Right?"  
"_Wrong_. How can someone with the name of Joule never ever come out again into society?"  
"Oh, we can say she was the long-lost cousin, and the commander dragged her out for some fresh air…or something. But then, she preferred a more quiet life, and so she went to live in some island in Orb. How's that, _commander_?"  
Apparently, Lacus was not the only person enjoying the situation. She never was, yes, but I would like to formally introduce the Pink Princess's new best friend, SHIHO HAHNENFUSS!

xoxox

They had a light …well no, a pretty large one since we all know you never get to eat at those formal convention-type things… snack before retreating to their quarters to get ready. Oh yes, the Athha estate is so impractically huge that it has too many rooms for anyone. The result was that any and all visitors got their own private rooms (which were pretty huge, BTY). Enough bird walking.

The guys were doing fine. I mean, how simple is it to change into a suit and tie a tie? Of course, I understand that tying a tie is much harder than it actually seems to be. I know of one particular person who spent 35 minutes trying to tie a tie, until another boy finally stepped in to lend a hand. But these were the "elite" class men (insert cough) who learned how to do that before they could walk. Aside from Kira, but as he is the _human dream come true_…

What I am trying to say, in shorter words, is that the three girls were having fun turning Yzak into a Barbie doll once again. After forcing a dozen dresses on our poor exhausted commander and trying half a dozen themselves, they finally decided to go down and meet up with their 'escorts'. Time was running short anyway.

"So. How do you like this?"  
Cagalli inquired in her princess-like tone, while Athrun with a pink face replied she looked very pretty in her green gown, much like the one Aisha put on her in Gundam Seed. Have you noticed she's always wearing a green dress? Lacus simply smiled and turned in her baby-pink frilly dress, confirming Kira was still under her spell. And Shiho, well, she stood and laughed in her wine-red tight dress at how Dearka was reacting to Yzak.

Yzak was wearing a blue dress. You see the blue strip that says Internet Explorer on top? Yeah, that color. A satin halter with a slight flare towards the bottom now replaced the white cotton dress the girls put on Yzak earlier, and it literally mesmerized Major Dearka Elsman.

"…_What_?"  
Yzak said bitterly after the long, _long_ silence. _Oh god DAMNIT, what is going on that idiot's head?_ Believe it or not, those were the exact words that popped into his head. But at the same time, he felt his face grow hot. He convinced himself that it was the embarrassment. _Oh yes_, the embarrassment and nothing more.

"……Yzak…"  
"I asked you WHAT, not my name."  
"…You look really pretty."  
Yzak felt steam coming from his face when the cherry-red major said those words. _Embarrassment, yes, NOTHING more…  
_"I take that as an insult."

Dearka smiled, his blush not _completely_ gone, but normal enough to carry on with his smartass moods. _What the hell was _that_ just about?_ He thought to himself, partly blaming the Pink Princess for all this trouble.  
"Aw, don't be such an ass. I really mean it!"  
"Well, pretty to a guy doesn't help! Now shut the fuck up if you don't want me to beat you to pulp."  
"Not that you could, right now."  
"…WHEN I GET BACK!"

Shiho sighed a little far away from them and the two other couples. Everything was so _amusing_ just moments ago, but ever since Yzak and Dearka started bickering like two lovebirds (uh…ahem) she felt like some lonely leftover. It wasn't exactly fun being the only one without a partner to 'whisper sweet nothings' to. Not that she wanted to with her superiors …_oh HEAVENS, no_… but it had been such a long time without a boyfriend…

She sighed again, unable to contain this feeling of loneliness within herself.

* * *

_Oh god, you just cannot imagine how sorry I am that I could not update this sooner. To any of you writers out there, if you are thinking about going to a boarding school, then let me tell you you might as well give up your writing career. It just doesn't work._

_Anyways... As usual, thanks to my readers and even more thanks to my reviewers. I appreciate your support so much, and it's only for you guys that I even attempt to write in this excessively noisy environment._

_Please don't kill me if I fail to update for another month or so... I AM sorry. I REALLY am._


	13. 07:00PM At the ballroom

"Oh, _no_."  
"Oh, YES."

"Some. You call this _some_ of your _friends_?"  
When the group approached the huge hall of the Athha Yzak spat at Cagalli who merely shrugged in an unconcerned fashion.  
"Not _my_ fault you are on friendly terms with so much less people, Yzak…"  
"That is _besides_ my point! There's like…what… 200 people in this fuckin' place!"  
"_Only_ 200. Gawd, Yzak, aren't _you_ supposed to be a better politician than me?"

The princess of Orb rolled her eyes, and disappeared into the multitude dragging Athrun with her. Kira and Lacus simply giggled, following the first couple after seconds… leaving an open-mouthed Yzak, anxious Dearka and hopeful Shiho.  
_Oh fuck, no. I am not pretending I am Miss _Elaine_ Joule in front of ALL these people!  
__Aw, shit. Don't leave me alone with Yzak who's gonna explode any moment now!  
__Hmm... That guy over there seems pretty cute…  
_Yeah, no need explaining who thought what. It's pretty obvious, isn't it?

Just before they actually entered the hall, Lacus had decided on Yzak's temporary identity as Elaine Joule, the 15-year old shy cousin of Yzak. Elaine was a very _sweet_ insert cough girl, who's timid cough again personality had kept her from politics until now. But as Yzak, her caring _another_ cough cousin was concerned about her introversion, finally succeeded in taking her out "in public". He, on the other hand, could not make it today _cough cough_ due to an important meeting.

I swear, do you also think I'm catching a cold? I feel I've been coughing a lot lately…

Ahem. SO. Since Lacus Clyne, our magically beautiful and _powerful_ …oh yes, we cannot forget that part now, can we?... princess of the PLANTS (whoever said PLANTS did not have an aristocracy?!) had officially decided upon it, to oppose that decision meant opposing the law. Oh, sorry, yes. The PLANTS does not have an aristocracy, _of course_. It has a _dictatorship_.

"You know what, Dearka?"  
Dearka closed his eyes and clenched his fist, bracing himself for the huge insult and/or shout that was going to erupt from his friend. Unlike his expectations, though, Yzak continued in a relatively calm voice.  
"Since they are all with their _friends_ right now, it would not be much of an issue if we get lost on our way down, will it?"  
"Oh hey, that's a…"  
Dearka, who grew up with these kinds of things but never grew to like it, immediately agreed. Or was _going_ to anyway, until he sensed a cold …yes, _cold_… gaze at his back. No need to look back, since what _could_ he do even if he found out who it was?

"That's a…?"  
Yzak turned to him, hope twinkling in his eyes. The whole thing seemed so naturally (damn) _cute_, and Dearka found his heart beating faster, momentarily forgetting that he was looking at his _male commander_.  
"…oh…um… Well…"  
"Come on! Let's just cut it!"  
"Uh……"  
"You didn't like these things. What's wrong with you?"

The platinum blonde faced up and closed in on Dearka. And you know what? It was not unlike a teenage girl adorably begging her boyfriend to buy her ice cream. The boyfriend (aka _Dearka Elsman_) blushed _furiously_, and wished he could say yes to Yzak. It's just unfortunate that it was a life-and-death situation for him, and that meant the ice cream had to wait. _For a while_.

Now, try playing what I told you until now in your mind. It takes something like 6 minutes for it to happen. And 6 minutes is enough time for Yzak's oh-so-beautiful roll your eyes with me, thank you looks to attract several young men about their age and bring them to the stairs.

You should've seen Dearka's face when a flock of obnoxious, self important youth came and started _flirting_ with Yza…Elaine. Well, there is a concept called _karma_ in Hinduism…which probably got to Yzak. But whatever. As of the moment, Dearka was suffering more than Yzak. _This_, on the other hand, is called motherly nature. Oh, go ahead and laugh your head off. That is much appreciated.

"Mr. Elsman, who is this beautiful lady? She oddly resembles Councilman Joule…"  
Oh, _yeah_. Remember how all the rich kids hang out together? This is the result. Teenagers addressing themselves as _misters-whatever-your-last-name-is_ and having oddly polite conversations. And everyone knowing who everyone else is.  
"…That would only be natural, since she is his cousin."  
Dearka replied, hiding his seething anger…nope, correction, jealousy… very well. When you grow up to this kind of environment, these things come naturally to you. You learn to kill your emotions, smile through the hardest of times…_unless_ you are Yzak and have an uncontrollable temper. But right now, _he_ isn't here. There is only the shy, polite Elaine cue to howl, _everyone_.  
"Oh, really? How come we've never seen her?"  
"I'm sure we wouldn't have missed such a stunning beauty."  
"Well, we have not heard any news of her until…quite recently."

Dearka's fist started shaking as he continued to tell the big, fat lie Lacus conjured. Not that he knew why he felt so damn terrible. He just felt like spitting at the guy (in Dearka's opinion, less dignified than a scavenging hyena) and grabbing Yzak's hand, running away with him to some peaceful, happy life…

Yzak, on the other hand, was bearing his share of violent emotions, such as the urge to run back to his things, get a gun, and make a hole in that bastard's head. Of course, although he failed to pick up the immediate danger he faced when he failed in his story, he realized that this _did_ have a huge significance in his life.

"Ms. Elaine, well, nice to meet you."  
Someone from the _heap_ of young gentlemen reached his hand out to Yzak. And Yzak _took_ it, since that was the only polite thing to do… But instead of shaking Yzak's hand, the guy kissed it.

Goosebumps of disgust quickly flew through Yzak's whole body.

"May I have your first dance?"  
_Aw, fuck no_. Yzak raised his hand in an attempt to smack the guy… But he sensed something very, _very_ cold and murderous. After shooting a helpless, _please-help-me_ type of look at Dearka, he turned the whole thing into an elaborate curtsy. Then he was forcibly dragged down to the dance floor.

"Miss Elaine… You _are_ a wonderful dancer."  
"…Thank you."  
Yzak bit his lip to keep him from cursing at the guy. It just felt _so_ wrong that a guy was flirting with him. _And dancing with him felt even _more_ wrong! _Kissing Dearka earlier that day didn't feel half as… Um, _no_. You _so_ did not hear that.  
"It is a pity that I have not met you earlier… I suppose your cousin will kill me for saying this, though."  
Haha. He doesn't know that Yzak Joule is _right_ in front of him, acting like a modest girl who didn't know better.  
"You are the most beautiful lady I have had the privilege to lay my eyes upon. Say, may I have your next dance as well?"  
"Oh…uh…"  
"Something tells me that if I let you go, I would never get to dance with you again… At least for tonight."  
The man continued with his gibberish, awfully upsetting Yzak. He would've thrown his whole fortune away if he could turn back to what he was. He really, _seriously_ would have. And mind you, Yzak had a hell of a lot of money.

"…Miss Elaine?"  
"I'm sorry, but…"  
"But?"  
Yzak grimaced …inwardly, _of course_… trying hard to think of an excuse. And it was _darn _hard to think of one.  
"I suppose I must meet up with Mister Dearka now. My cousin might be upset later on if I don't…"  
"I see. It was nice meeting you though."  
The man gave him '_the eye_', which Yzak thought was absolutely terrifying. Oh, hell, it was past the point of being annoying or embarrassing. Everything was just goddamn scary.

He groaned as he picked up small martini glass from one of the tables, and limped to the nearest balcony. He needed fresh air, _desperately_, before he choked from the stiffness and formality of the whole thing. _Formality_, sprinkled with little flirtatious looks here and there. That, and the fact that those high-heeled shoes the girls made him wear was _murdering_ his feet. I mean, he did realize they were really pretty shoes and all…but he did _not_ know how much of a torture it was to dance with pin heels. He swore to himself he'd have higher regards for the women he saw at these formalities…women who he thought was absolutely worthless until this very moment.

A sigh of relief escaped him as he stepped out into the cold, dark night. But he quickly drew it in as he saw something.

_Something_ he never thought would mesmerize him like that.

* * *

_Yeah, un update... like, FINALLY. I'm so sorry, haven't updated in like, what, half a year? Aw, I feel so bad..._

_I hope you guys aren't gonna look for me and try to hang me or anything... really._

_Ever thanks to my readers and especially my reviewers... Yeah, love ya all... although sometimes it might not seem like it..._


	14. 08:00PM At the balcony

Dearka Elsman, age 19, was on his way to becoming a sorry old single.

It started with the whole 'being friends with Yzak Joule' thing. When you hang out with the most easily angered, irrational, irritable person in the whole of PLANTS (Oh, _no_, of _course_ Dearka isn't backstabbing his _soul mate_. He is just stating the facts, that's all.), getting a girl becomes very close to impossible. He neither had the natural womanizing-properties Athrun had, nor the sweet face of Nicol. The result was, he could hook up with random girls, but none of whom he saw twice.

Heck, even Yzak had more luck than him. Yzak, although the primary cause of all this trouble, had dashing looks that attracted women like a garbage dump attracts flies. Dearka was the ordinary chasing-anything-in-a-skirt type of guy with above average looks, and that was not enough for the girls. His strongest point was _patience_, and that was usually not the first thing girls looked for.

He was deprived of a real relationship for a long, _long_ time now, so it was only natural for him to see a flicker of hope when Yzak turned into a girl.

And it was only natural for him to feel a pang of hurt when that long-lost hope was snatched away from him.

Ignoring the whory looking girls who he thought Cagalli invited for the heck of it, Dearka made his way into the balcony with a glass of colorful alcohol in his hand. He personally wanted something more strong, but this was a formal dinner party, not a get-crashingly-drunk get together.

Oh well. Anything was better than seeing that _bastard_ flirt with Yzak. It made him feel sicker than a horrible hangover. He spent a full hour wallowing in self-pity, trying to get drunk on the impossibly un-alcoholic drinks the waiter served. He then decided on one thing. No matter what Yzak was like, without him Dearka Elsman could not exist.

Although I had just written that Dearka was definitely not the Prince Charming everyone ran after, he still looked like a Greek god brought to life at _that_ moment, at _that_ certain angle.

At _that_ certain angle where he came into Yzak Joule's view.

The platinum blonde felt an unfamiliar tingle in his spine when he caught sight of his comrade. It was as if…the whole world had paused around them, and an eternity of wonderful bliss was on its way. Like all the façades they wore to get through life melted away, and the innocence of childhood was slowly returning to them.

The moonlight washed on the tan skin, giving it a holy shimmer. The golden locks reflected the soft light while those amethyst eyes sparkled dully, like they where veiled by a heavy burden… His back tall and straight, dignity and grace filling the air around him…

Yzak could not shift his gaze from Dearka, who he knew so well since forever…or so he thought until now. _Now_, his childhood friend was radiating a mysteriousness he did not know the blonde was capable of. And it caught him like the sirens' song.

And he still could not move when Dearka, finally realizing the presence of someone else in the balcony, turned around slowly and stared at him straight in the eye with those deep violet orbs.

Dearka, whose senses what little amount of alcohol he took in managed to distract, turned around to shout at whoever disturbed his 'alone time', only to find the familiar clear blue crystals staring back at him. And he froze right then and there, mesmerized by something he never thought ever would.

The small shiver that ran through his body was nothing compared to how hard his heart started to beat. And even then, he slowly felt his senses withdrawing to give more space to his sight. It was as if he was caught in a labyrinth of exquisitely carved marble, cold and delicate.

The light from inside reflected on the silver silken threads, making them glow with different colors every second. The porcelain skin glowed like pearls, with a hint of color at the cheekbones. Piercing sapphires bordered by long lashes that cast a faint shadow seemed so cold, and at the same time so fragile.

Dearka could not say anything while he felt Yzak's gaze bore a hole into him. Yzak himself was too…ethereal, and he could not speak for fear of breaking him. Although he was _positive_ he knew his hot-headed comrade more than anybody, he did not know Yzak was capable of such…delicateness.

"Dearka."  
"Yzak…"  
They both broke the silence at the same time, and immediately felt their faces burning.  
"What, Dearka?"  
"No, you go first…"  
They had _no_ idea whatsoever why they were acting so strange to each other. Really, since when did either have to feel nervous around the other? _Since when_?

Yzak shifted his eyes, a little embarrassed at how awkward everything was turning out.  
"I…just thought you were in a weird place. I was wondering where you went."  
Dearka almost blurted out that it was _Yzak's _fault for letting that bastard flirt with him, but he held his tongue. It wasn't very often that Yzak spoke in a gentle voice, and he didn't want to miss any of it.  
"I just needed to be alone for a while. You too, are you okay? You look a little flustered."  
"…I just had a hard time pretending to be someone I am not."  
Yzak pouted slightly, which was also something very unnatural. Unnatural enough to throw Dearka off his tracks, anyway.

"Yzak, seriously, are you alright? You don't seem to be yourself."  
"……Would it help your stupid brain to think if I told you I'm a girl right now?"  
Viciousness returned to Yzak's voice, and Dearka immediately regretted saying that. But then, Dearka's pulse still rang in his head like a thousand gongs. Now, what was _that_ all about?

Hey! It's cheating to answer other people's questions for them!

Our _formerly_ impatient commander walked a little closer to the blonde with a slight limp.  
"…Did you fall somewhere?"  
Dearka's remark was rewarded by a friendly slap on his head (which Yzak had to tiptoe to reach).  
"It's the shoes, damnit. How do women manage this?"  
"Shoes?"  
"High-heels. Stilettos. Whatever."

Dearka frowned slightly. He felt a little bad that Yzak was hurt. Noticing a small couch at one side of the balcony, he told Yzak to sit, and when the platinum blonde did as told, he knelt on one knee and took of both of Yzak's shoes.

How _romantic_ is that? A deserted balcony a little far away from the party inside, moonlight shining over, a young girl blushing slightly as her knight knelt in front of her…

"Dude, what are these thing supposed to do to you? Torture you to death?"  
"I'm thinking along those lines."  
The two smiled softly at each other before their faces turned redder than an apple. It amazed them how long ago it was since they felt so warm and gentle… The war had changed them in more ways than one.  
"You want me to get you something?"  
Dearka, eager to break the awkwardness, stood up. Or rather, he would have if Yzak didn't tug his sleeve like a little kid.

"Yzak…?"  
Dearka instantly sensed something wrong, and reached out to Yzak's face. The ivory smoothness was a little flushed, and those sharp sapphires was a little unfocused. Which was only natural. The platinum was burning.  
"Yzak, damnit! You have a fever!"  
"…Do I?"  
The innocent shrugging might have gotten Yzak out of trouble at another time, but Dearka was too worried for the other right now.  
"You need to go rest now. Can you walk?"  
"…Does that mean I can cut this crap short?"  
"Whatever, Yzak. You need some medication."

The platinum blonde smirked inside. Whatever the reason or circumstance, he now had an excuse to get out of the cursed place. He tried to stand, but the world turned upside down and he found himself lying on the couch. The fever seemed to be a lot worse than he expected.

"Shit."  
Dearka swore softly and lifted his best friend up, bridal style. Yzak tried to protest, but the blonde whispering in his ear was enough to silence him.  
"Just shut up, 'kay?"  
They both tried to ignore the million gongs that appeared in their head, but it was not working too well.

"Oh, Shiho, isn't that sweet?"  
Lacus pointed at the two crossing the hall, and Shiho turned around to see her two superiors. She grew immensely jealous…not because she liked either of them, but because she had nobody like that.  
"Lacus, teasing them isn't the nicest thing to do…"  
The pink fairy princess merely laughed at her boyfriend's intervention. Shiho excused herself lying that she needed to use the bathroom. She just didn't want to see people being so happy anymore…

"Miss Hahnenfuss, was it?"  
Someone spoke behind Shiho, causing her to look back. She was slightly surprised to see a young man with dark hair smiling at her. His eyes twinkled like a small kid's when he got a new toy.  
"…Yes, and you are……?"  
The man merely deepened his smile, and dropped on one knee.  
"May I have a dance?"  
Shiho tried to put on a cool smile, but felt her cheeks burning.

* * *

_OOHH Yup. THIS is what I've been dying to write. This particular scene._

_So. Now Shiho has a date too, and hopefully that would make her less harsh towards _Elaine_. Lol._

_Thank you!!! As always. Hope you enjoyed this chapter too!_


	15. 09:00PM In an empty room of the Estate

Yzak listened detachedly as Dearka demanded for the nearest _peaceful_ space and a flustered maid answered hurriedly. His logical thinking was too nonfunctional to realize that the maid was flustered because she thought Dearka was going to engage in hot, dirty (fill in the blank) with Yzak Joule's cousin. He also failed to realize that Dearka was so much more…enthusiastic, if I must say…to secure Yzak's comfort and necessities than under usual circumstances.

Not that Dearka noticed that either, and not that this _was_ anything near usual circumstances, but _still_.

His consciousness continued to drift away as Dearka successfully found an empty room, and got hold of a few tablets _Lacus_ used when _she_ had fever.

Uh…ahem. _Lacus Clyne_? Down with such a trivial thing like _fever_? And for _heaven's_ sake, hasn't Dearka learned anything about how to deal with the Pink Pri…Empress's belongings? Seriously, of _all _the people in the world, only Dearka would have been so naïve. Maybe Kira too, but at least Kira can count on Lacus (or her team of special scientists) to fix whatever went wrong. Dearka can't. Neither can Yzak.

Come on, haven't we _all_ gone through those drug-abuse-week-lectures (or something along those lines) where guest speakers come and tell us not to receive anything that even seems like medicine from strangers, because we never know what it actually is? And didn't our parents explain to us how not knowing how much we must take at a time can end up in terrible, _terrible_ consequences?

Well, much to all of our (I believe) surprise, Lacus's medication had none of those frightening effects it may have had. It actually worked very, _very_ well (special thanks to our team of scientists) and Yzak felt so much better after just ten minutes.

Which, naturally, left the two in that awkward silence again.

Neither of them knew that _that_ flustered maid was eavesdropping outside, trying to find out what was going on. Oh yes, the female mentality is solely made up with gossip and curiosity. Those two things always take the better of us at times they shouldn't.

She almost squealed in delight when she heard something.

"Dearka…"  
"…Better now?"  
"Yeah. Those pills were amazing."  
"Lacus Clyne's, after all."  
Dearka sat on the bed beside Yzak, causing it to creak.

"You should be happier, since we were able to cut that crap short."  
The blonde whispered into his best friend's ear, causing the both to giggle. From outside the door, though, only the giggling was audible.

You know, doesn't the conversation above sound like something it isn't, if you don't have the graphics to it?

…Yeah, you get it. And guess what, that maid totally misunderstood it. Oh yes, _horribly_ mistook it to be something it _so_ wasn't.

And this time, she _did_ scream in delight and ran away, happily humming, with a fangirl's sparkle in her eyes.

The two inside remained oblivious to the cause of that strange noise from outside.

And now that the awkward silence settled in again, they just sat side by side, more aware of the other's presence than they personally would have liked. Blood rose to their cheeks, and fingers fiddled pointlessly, trying to avert any little amount of attention that they could aware from their best friend sitting beside them.

Not that it worked too well. Biting lips or clacking on the floor with the soles of their shoes (not that Yzak had any shoes on at the moment) didn't either. All they could think of was how different the other seemed at that balcony. The delicately pale face and beautifully lit tan face circled in their minds, and an unexplainable burst of emotions colored their blacked out paths of thought.

And they both stole a glance at the other, coincidentally at the exact same moment.

Those emotions exploded in Dearka's mind, and before _he_ even knew what was happening, he pulled Yzak close and kissed the stunned platinum blonde on his pale but soft lips.

He didn't expect Yzak to kill him later, unlike the last time he ended up kissing his commander. And, Yzak didn't. Those blue orbs only flew open in surprise for a moment, and after that, Yzak just closed his eyes and returned the hungry kiss.

After what seemed like an eternity, they tore away from each other to breathe. This time Dearka's eyes were the ones that shone feverishly, but his affliction was much more complicated than Yzak's fever.

That affliction, my friend, is called love. And Dearka…and of course, Yzak too…both fell deep and hard into that bottomless pit. Not that they cared, though. The fear of the dark _bottom_ was nothing compared to the thrill of falling.

"Yzak…"  
The blonde breathlessly muttered as he combed the silver hair with his hands, tickling Yzak's ears. And instead of an answer, the platinum blonde wrapped his arms around the other boy and their heated breaths mingled again.

xoxox

Let's steer away from the couple who …ahem… are shifting towards the uneasy side of, well, _stuff_, to Shiho Hahnenfuss. Yes, the last time we left her, a mysterious young man with dark hair had asked her to dance, making her heartbeat speed up for the first time in a _long_ while.

Now, however, her eyes were opened wide in surprise.

"…Arnold Neumann?"  
Shiho could only rasp out the man's name. The man nodded, nervousness slightly visible at the corner of his eyes.  
"Crew of the Archangel?"  
The man nodded again. And the girl had the sudden urge to go bang her head on the nearest wall. Of _all_ the people that could have asked her, it had to be one of her commander's mortal enemies. Arch nemesis, more like. Yeah, seriously, they should have named that ship the Arch Nemesis. That would have been fitting, at least to Yzak Joule, Rau le Creuset…you go on with the list.

Oh, by the way. Arnold Neumann was that guy who piloted the Archangel, with straight dark blue hair. He is eight years older than Shiho, actually…but oh well. That happens.

"Miss Hahnenfuss…"  
Neumann started, only to be cut off by Shiho's snappy voice.  
"Oh, _please_. Just call me Shiho."  
"Well then, Shiho… From the way you reacted, it's as if you have a personal grudge against us. Please feel free to tell me if you…"  
"No, _no_, it's not _me_!"  
Shiho exclaimed. There was no way she was going to let him off so easily. No, sir. What Shiho wants, she gets. Don't even try to defy her, for she was personally tutored by the might Lacus Clyne herself.  
"It's my commander who has a personal grudge. More like, against Kira Yamato, but well."

"Oh…"  
Neumann's face fell noticeably, and Shiho couldn't help but feel sorry for him. I mean, it was neither his fault nor hers that Yzak kept losing to the Strike. It was neither of their fault that he got an ugly gash on his face because of the Strike (which wasn't there anymore, even). And it was neither of their fault that they had both been deprived of contact with a member of the opposite sex for such a long time that they really, honestly, seriously, didn't care what their superior may have thought.

Let us, just for this once, conveniently forget how Shiho has more power than Yzak Joule at the moment anyway. And let us conveniently remain oblivious to the fact that Yzak got himself into a not-so-plausible kind of relationship at the moment. Let us, just for this one time, make it seem as though Shiho is a poor girl with adverse surroundings, all alone in the world…

Pssht. Just don't say anything, for the sake of the plot to go on.

"Mister Neumann…"  
"Arnold, Shiho."  
Shiho looked up, and saw that the playful spark was back in his eyes. Her lips curled into a smile before she could help it, and she continued in a challenging tone.  
"Arnold, would you like to dance some more?"  
"If I am entitled to the privilege, my lady."  
The two grinned at each other and resumed dancing once again.

It was starting to get a little late, or so Lacus thought with an innocent smile on her face and a not-so-innocent mind.

* * *

_Yes, Arnold Neumann. I actually like him a lot for such a minor character, but oh well._

_I didn't see him coming in, but what the hell. I don't know._

_Thanks again! _


	16. 09:30PM Meeting your dream prince

Dearka and Yzak shared a few more mingled breaths, and then they slowly pulled apart.

If you've ever been so unfortunate, like_ me_, and have witnessed people _violently_ making out, you'd know they didn't look like the neatest person on the planet.

This goes a little of topic, but I've been doing that my whole story so I might as well add this: if you go to a boarding school…or any school for that matter… try not to make out with your boy/girlfriend in public places. It might be fun for you guys, but honestly, it's disgusting when a couple practically bite at each others' tongues and have their hands all over the _wrong_ places. And for boarders, I know you guys don't get that much privacy or anything, but try to find a less packed space if you start feeling affectionate.

So anyways.

Yzak's sleek hair was now roughly tossed against the bed (_yes_, I suppose they felt more comfortable lying down or something), the ribbon behind his neck that provided vertical support for the dress was way loose, and the long hem was pulled up to his knees. Dearka's jacket lied in the middle of the floor somewhere, his shirt untucked and buttons half undone.

Honestly, I can only handle the image because it's fanfiction. And I'm not going into too much detail of what they are actually doing. If I saw it with my own eyes, I'd probably kill myself.

And you may wonder, what the (insert swearword) are they doing, pulling away right _now_.

Dearka completely freed himself of any inch of Yzak. Yzak didn't protest, because he somewhat knew why this was happening.

"…Yzak……"  
The blonde's raspy voice trailed off, and he looked away guiltily. Yzak sat up quietly, straightening out his dress.  
"……You know you are the best thing that happened to my life."  
"That can mean anything."  
The silver haired said indignantly, trying to hide how freakin' nervous he was feeling. It wasn't everyday that he had such deep conversations with his best mate…but again, it wasn't everyday that he turned into a girl, or kissed Dearka, or actually chose to make out with the annoying blonde right in front of him.  
"You've always meant the whole world to me."  
Yzak looked away bitterly. Dearka, too, has always meant the whole world to him. Just…not in the way it was turning out to be. They had been best friends for nearly two decades now. But somehow, they felt that their relationship had changed over the day.

Well, it _had._

"And…?"  
"…I love you."  
Yzak felt color rising to his cheeks. He cursed his own inarticulateness while Dearka paused, as if to wait for a response. But it seemed as though Yzak's voice suddenly disappeared…and whatever attempt he made at speaking resulted in a thin breath that barely escaped his throat.

"…And…well…I don't want you to think it's because you're a girl now."  
"……"  
"I mean …uh… I love you because you are you, I guess. Not because you randomly became a girl."  
"…"  
"And I don't want you to think if…_if_ you turn back to a guy, I'd stop feeling this way."  
"Dearka…"  
"I …ARGH, DAMNIT!"  
The blonde let out a frustrated growl and crumpled his hair. He knew _so_ clearly what he wanted to say, and yet he just could not express himself in words. Nothing had been so frustrating in his life…perhaps with the exception of …today.

"What I want to say is… I love you."  
"You said that."  
"…I want to know if you love me back, because I would just be taking advantage of you if you don't."  
"I…"

Yzak could not continue after the first word. Tears choked him and his emotions would not let him say as he wanted. Dearka looked at him with painful longing…something Yzak had never ever seen in his friend before. He knew exactly what that longing must have felt like.  
"……It's okay, Yzak."  
The silver head blinked a few times before fully understanding what Dearka just meant. The blonde had his back turned to Yzak, and the air around him screamed hurt. His shoulders were shaking slightly as he slowly rose to his feet.  
"I'm sorry. I…I really am sorry."

Dearka walked to the door and rested his hand on the doorknob, pausing expectantly for a while. But as Yzak just sat there gaping, he opened the door with a depressed sigh.

It was _not_ supposed to turn out like this.

An electric impulse jumped into Yzak's conscience, and he found himself clinging to Dearka for dear life the next second.  
"Yzak…!"  
"I…I……I…"  
"…Yes?"  
"I…"  
Dearka looked back with hesitant hope.  
"I… FUCK IT!"  
And Yzak answered that hope in actions.

The two hugged each other tightly at the door, finally fully appreciating the significance of the other in their lives.

* * *

_This had yet to be the shortest chapter I've written. I'm sorry... but it's wrapping up now!!_


	17. 08:00AM The Best Day of your life

To be frank, I had no idea what to do after I completed the last chapter. Honestly. Being a fourteen year old virgin myself, I had no idea what I must put after the last chapter, much less how to write it. And as does not welcome anything that is rated R, I suppose I could not have written the continuation _if_ I wanted to.

Not that I exactly did.

By reading the last paragraph, I conclude that my readers know exactly what went on in that room anyways. So let us fast forward a few hours…to a point in the story which no longer needs reader discretion.

Birds chirped softly in harmony to the warm sunshine that shone into the room through the curtains. Dearka and Yzak both woke up simultaneously to the_ uncharacteristically _pleasant morning. Since _when_ were mornings supposed to be pleasant, after all? They both felt a little light headed, but concluded it must have been the alcohol they took in last night. That too, was _uncharacteristic_. They both held alcohol very well, thank you very much. In fact, too well-occasionally their alcohol tolerance posed a problem when they were trying to get totally wasted.

Ahem. Excuse me, I meant _Dearka_. Yzak, being the too-rich-for-his-own-good (aka aristocratic) bastard he was, _never_ got wasted. Except for that one time in the academy, when everyone got wasted. But that was that. Even _Athrun_ got wasted, for heaven's sake…and Athrun was more steadfast about substance intake than Yzak. Yzak liked to believe it was because Athrun was too chicken to 'push his limits'. In reality, Athrun was just more sensible than Yzak.

Like _that_ means anything. As much as our beloved (insert snicker) silver-haired commander likes to think of himself as the only sane one of the bunch, we all know that isn't true. _Heck_, Rusty probably has more sense than him depending on the situation.

They then turned to the other side, simultaneously again, enjoying this ever-so-pleasant morning in the clean white sheets.

They _then_ saw the occupant of the other half of the bed.

And that the other was stark naked.

And that they were too themselves.

Memories from last night flooded back into their minds, causing an inevitable occurrence that had formerly never happened in between them. Not in that magnitude anyway.

Awkwardness ensued.

Silence occurred as a consequence to the awkwardness. And we all know that silence is _uncharacteristic_ for both of them. It was Dearka who tried in a desperate and pathetic attempt to start a conversation.  
"Well…Good morning, Yzak."  
_No_. You just don't croak good morning in a situation like that. Apparently, Dearka was a _lot_ more awkward than we thought he was. Not that Yzak was much better. He instantly turned bright red and pulled the sheets over his face.

Awkwardness resumed.

"Um…yeah. So…uh…yeah."  
"……Dearka…?"  
Surprisingly enough, Yzak neither screeched nor swore (nor both), but rather whined faintly. Dearka was not used to this kind of behavior, although it _had _been a while since they first met. He immediately sat up straight. Was Yzak _that_ pissed at him?

_No_, of _course_ not.

"Yzak… I…"  
"…I'm back."  
Another few moments of awkwardness passed by.  
"…Back? To what?"  
"A guy."  
"……Oh."  
Dearka widened his eyes. Oh yeah, no shit. Yzak was a girl yesterday, right? How could anyone possibly forget that, unless you are Dearka who just woke up? He did not mean to sound as disappointed as he actually sounded, though. He truthfully wasn't anyway. What did it matter if Yzak was a guy or girl, as long as he ceased his constant swearing enough to say something sweet occasionally (meaning once a month, at most)? And what did it matter _now_, after they had confirmed their burning ardor for each other?

Yzak, however, seemed to think differently.  
"Yeah. So…I suppose you'd want me to forget what happened last night?"  
Dearka did a somersault. Or rather, what little sanity/attention he had somersaulted. _Wait. Pause. Rewind. Play again?_ was the exact course of thought his microscopic logic followed.  
"…Wh…what do you mean?"  
"You wouldn't want to go with a guy."

Have you ever heard of the phrase, 'bleach white'? I did not fully capture the imagery of that phrase before, but ever since I started doing my own laundry, I have come to understand…and appreciate that phrase. Bleach is a wonderful thing, my friends. Whenever you accidentally put a white jacket with a few pair of jeans in the wash, you _will_ need bleach to get rid of the nasty blue stains afterwards. It's not black things that discolor lighter colors. It's denim.

My point is, Dearka's brain went bleach white.

"………Why would you say that?"  
Yzak only pretended to hesitate before answering sarcastically.

"Your entire wall is plastered with blonde girls in bikinis. You have one on your _ceiling_, so you can stare at the girl while you fall asleep. Your entire bookshelf is filled with porn magazines. Your hard drive is encrypted just so you can hide your dirty videos. Half of the history of your internet leads to something inappropriate for anyone younger than us…_correction_, anyone _whatsoever_. I know for a fact that you have the membership card to at least three …_compromising_ stores. You have a locked drawer containing heaven knows what. And…"

"OKAY, I get it so _STOP_!"  
Dearka shouted while blushing furiously. Now, _this_ was the drawback of falling for someone you have known too well. They know every, single, freakin', goddamn secret you may have. All those small tiny tidbits of embarrassing facts add up to become a massive pile of blackmailing material.  
"…So I strongly believe that you would _not_ date a guy over your dead body."  
And not even the talkative Dearka could say anything against that, because it was all _terribly_ true.

Yzak huffed (although it sort of sounded like a sniffle). He was immensely glad of the cover he had, because he would have had to expose his _pathetic_ expression he wore. Him being the impossibly incorrigible and stubborn individual he is, did not want to admit this softer side of him that grew the previous day; he was not one to _oh-so-innocently_ fall in love. But there was no way he could possibly deny the existence of …_as much as he loathed saying it_… this burning sensation deep within his heart.

And so it surprised him _very much_ when Dearka, who had suddenly gone quiet (for apparent reasons) embraced him gently over the sheets.

"Wh… you… _YOU_!"  
By this point, Yzak's face was probably redder than a Coke can. (Nope, I do not own Coke either… u ) Although he tried, he could not put as much venom in his voice as he used to. He cleared his throat to make another attempt, but never got through with it.  
"I love you."  
Dearka's slightly husky voice wrapped warmly around him. And he _knew_. They both knew.

No matter what Dearka's sexual orientation was before this incident, he loved Yzak now. And Yzak loved him back, no matter what _his_ history may have been (unfortunately, we do not have the resources in which to get an insight to this one.)

And so they embraced tightly and fell asleep once again, in the warmth and comfort of each other's arms. Yesterday may have been the worst day of their lives, but today was going to be the best day of their lives.

xoxox

Let us move on. I do not write sappy romance very well, and I do not take as much enjoyment in making simple happy endings for people. Instead of that (I am sure you can find other sources for your daily sugar intake), I would like to show you a darker side of the story. For which we must go back to last night _again_.

"Arnold…"  
"Shiho…"  
Two shadows lurked in the corners of the ballroom, inching towards each other…

_Scratch that_. Wrong one.

Turn left and go down the hallways for about 5 minutes. Yes, five. Has anybody ever pointed out to you the pointless size and lavishness of rich aristocrats' houses? The Athhas prove to be no exceptions. Down the dimly lit hallways which Cagalli herself is very much unaware of lurks the _true_ masterminds of this horrible day.

"Miss Clyne, this is the chemical you requested for."  
Behind huge metal walls that no one in the household knew of, a creepy man with green goggles handed a distinctly pink figure a flask. A suspiciously _shocking pink_ flask, with a less shocking (which is not really saying anything) pink liquid in it.  
"Oh, thank you! I wasn't sure if you could make it on time…"  
A sweet voice which did not match this gloomy room at all said happily. Of course, we all know that this voice belongs to that distinctly pink figure, otherwise known as our soon-to-be-dominating-the-world Pink Princess. A very disturbing kind of laughter filled the room, magnified by its smooth metal/concrete walls.

"There is nothing I cannot do. _Nothing_ at all."  
"Oh, I'm sure of that. How can I ever thank you?"  
"Please, Miss Clyne. I am not doing this for a reward."  
"If you say so, then… I will see you soon."  
"Goodbye, Miss Clyne."  
The metal door opened with a creak, and then closed with a huge _bang_. And there stood our very own pink princess, smiling softly and warmly, gray eyes twinkling with absolute _happiness_.

Oh yes. Life was not going to end happily every after for _anyone_.

* * *

_Finally, the next chapter. I am so sorry for making you wait so long... but here it is!!_

_Special thanks to: P.R., P. B., A.L., and last but not least, H.W. for the ideas of perverse nature demonstrated in Yzak's description of Dearka's ... not-dating-a-guy-over-his-dead-body-ness(thanks again to H.W.)... Not that half of them knows that their daily lifestyle is being used in this fic. Oh well._

_They finally got together...for real... I'm sorry if I disappointed people for not keeping Yzak a girl. But that is a part of the story I decided on even before I started writing it. Thus this ending happened... _

_One more short chapter, and I'm done, I swear!!!! THANKS GUYS!!!_


	18. The Pink Princess's Curse

It does not end, at least not yet, with a pink bottle that was delivered to him.

Yzak Joule was utterly horrified when he saw the bottle inside his mailing box. He did not remember ordering anything of that sort, much less anything _pink_. Unless it was a prank.

He concluded that the mail man mixed his and Dearka's mailbox up. After all, it _was_ the kind of sketchy thing the blonde would order…

Being his usual cautious self, he opened it and sniffed it. If it _was_ Dearka's sketchy mail order, then he was going to suffer the consequences of it…which he was not going to be happy about. It didn't seem too sketchy, however…

Then he noticed a pink envelope, which he observed and opened with the same care.

_My dearest friend,_

_This bottle contains a magical potion which has a rather interesting quality. Please consider it a reward for your hard work in the military._

_I am convinced that not only you, but your close friend would quite enjoy what would be brought by this._

_Pink Princess._

Now, Yzak was officially confused. A magical potion. Like he was supposed to believe that; it wasn't as if he was a five year old. Of course, he may had as much control over his temper as one, but that did not mean he _was_ one.

But there was an odd persuasiveness in the whole packet. Pink bottle, pink letter and envelope. There was something that definitely drew him to it. Oh yes, it was _way_ kinky.

And who else would address themselves as the _Pink Princess_ save that one innocent damsel that the entire PLANTS was in love with? If anyone, _she_ would know what she was doing.

But a potion that _she_'d make?

He thought of all the possibilities, and settled that it really could be magical.

She was a fairy. Oh yes, _the_ ultimate fairy. Whatever she'd do would be magical. Like that dirty make out session in front of the movie theater with Kira, which _magically _became innocent.

He felt a forced kind of smile creep to his lips. _It wouldn't hurt to try, would it?_

Yzak took a deep breath, opened the cap of the bottle, and downed it within 5 seconds. It was _so_ sweetly irresistible that he wanted more…but no, no more was left. He stared at the bottle for a while, waiting for a change to happen. He just felt ticklish on his head and his back, but that was about it.

Then someone knocked on his door busily. No one but Dearka did that. Disappointed by the lack of…well, some kind of effect, Yzak opened the door to face his lovely lover. It _would_ have been a little nice if that potion had given him a special _something_ to surprise Dearka with…

And then a piercing scream cut through his thoughts.

"Oh my _freakin' _god, Yzak! You've grown cat ears! And a TAIL!"

And for the second time in his short, tragic life, Yzak could've sworn this was definitely going to be the worst day of his life.

* * *

_And the story of Yzak's hardships continue. This fic, however, has reached its end._

_Thank you to all readers, including (but not only): dark.retreat, ahm771, JenEvan, HeartlessHitorikiri, Blizzaris, seeds of war, reckless-rage, isa18, sesshomaru-haku, Admiralgundam, Jenihenpen, Sacred Blade, Feathermist, heero yuoy, Gemstone, alsgal1126, NaraOccult, Yzak Stonier, ascelon, Kiheada.Ray.T., Koji, SlvrSoleAlchmst1, kittins3, Infinite sky, James Axelrad, vincents-loverffall, thomas, and Knightess Silver. Your reviews really helped me get through this!!_

_I hope to be back with another Yzak fic soon...otherwise, please read my other fanfic, _If I could say I love you_. Any kind of input would be welcome there, too._

_THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN!!!!!!_


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